BV  1533 

.H35 

1904 

Hamill , 

H.  M. 

1847- 

-1915. 

Sunday- 

school 

teacher- 

training 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
TEACHER-TRAINING 


By  H.  M.  HAM  ILL,  D.D. 

Superintendent  of  Teacher-Training  Work  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  Chairman 
of  the  Educational  Committee  of  the  International 
Sunday  -  School  Convention  ;  author  of  "Legion 
of  Honor  Normal  Course  of  Study,"  "The  Sun- 
day-School Teacher,"  "  International  Lesson  His- 
tory," "The  Bible  and  Its  Books,"  etc. 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  TIMES  CO. 
1904 


Reprinted  from  The  Sunday  School  Times,  and 
Copyright  1903,  1904, 

BY 

The  Sunday  School  Times  Co. 


/BEG  pardon  for  a.  personal  'word,  I  begin  this 
series  of  chapters  <with  no  small  embarrassment, 
I  have  neither  sought  nor  shunned  the  call  to  ivrite 
them,  I  hanje  been  a  teacher  most  of  my  life,  I  ha<ve 
been  trying  to  train  Sunday-school  teachers  for  tm)enty 
years,  Mr,  B,  F,  Jacobs  laid  hand  upon  me,  and  ga-ve 
me  charge  of  teacher-training  in  a  great  Sunday-school 
state.  In  the  larger  International  fidd  I  did  <Tvhat  I 
could  to  solve  this  greatest  of  all  Sunday-school  problems, 
I  am  harder  at  <work  upon  it  no<w  than  ever,  in  the 
service  of  the  church  of  my  fathers,  I  Jong  ago  began 
to  knov)  the  difficulties  in  the  <zvay,  but  I  have  seen 
most  of  them  overcome,  I  love  the  <work,  I  shall  at 
least  put  my  heart  into  these  chapters.  If  I  can  only 
make  them  hopeful  and  helpful  to  those  voho  may  read 
them,  I  shall  be  happy  indeed, 

H,  M.  H. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Is  Teacher-Training  Needed? i 


Who  Should  Do  It? 13 

What  It  Should  Be? 27 

Ways  of  Doing  It 43 

Te.\cher-Training  Agencies 59 

Interdenominational  and    Denominational 

Work 71 

What  Southern  Methodism  is  Doing    ....  83 

A  Specimen  Teacher-Training   Course  ....  95 


IS  TEACHER-TRAINING  NEEDED? 


I 

IS  TEACHER-TRAINING  NEEDED? 

O  Y  DAY  and  by  night  it  is  the  thought  of  the  great 
*-^  host  of  American  Sunday-school  teachers,  many 
of  whom  I  know  and  all  of  whom  I  love,  that  comforts 
and  cheers  me  in  my  work.  If  one  can  help  at  all  to 
solve  the  problem  that  confronts  and  hinders  them,  it 
will  be  labor  well  spent.  And  behind  these  teachers 
now  teaching  is  another  even  greater  host.  It  is  the 
young  people  of  the  church  who  are  to  teach  and  train 
when  we  are  gone.  What  can  be  done  for  them  ?  If 
teacher-training  means  much  to  the  teacher  at  work, 
it  means  much  more  to  the  young  man  or  woman 
whose  life  work  is  yet  to  begin. 

The  first  reason  why  I  believe  teacher-training  is 
needed  is  that  our  teachers,  and  our  young  people  who 
are  willing  to  teach,  sincerely  and  generally  desire  it. 
In  fifteen  years  of  Sunday-school  work  I  have  met 
very  many  of  both  classes, — in  Canada  and  the 
United  States,  in  the  big  cities  and  little  villages,  in 
the  finely  equipped  schools  of  modern  pattern  and 
in  the  log  and  sod  houses  of  the  frontier,  in  conven- 
tions great  and  small,  individually  and  collectively. 
Comparatively  few  of  them  were  really  indifferent. 
Some  of  them  teach  perfunctorily,  because  they  know 
nothing  better.  Most  of  them  sincerely  desire  to 
become  better  teachers,  if  only  the  way  would  open. 
I    have   watched    them    at   conventions,   some   of 

3 


4  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

them  coming  long  distances  at  large  expense.  I 
have  seen  them  scanning  the  program  anxiously 
to  see  if  it  had  anything  to  help  the  teacher.  I 
have  noted  their  eager,  upturned  faces,  always  pa- 
thetic in  their  keen  desire  to  find  something  in  the 
speaker's  words  that  would  help  them  teach  next 
Sunday's  lesson.  Name  a  teacher-training  book, 
and  quickly  would  come  the  inquiry,  "Where  can 
it  be  bought?"  "What  will  it  cost?"  Whoever 
taught  a  lesson  from  the  Bible  to  these  teachers  and 
young  people  as  a  teaching  model  but  noted  the 
quick  flash  of  the  eye  and  flush  oi  the  cheek  if  his 
work  was  skilfully  done?  I  know  the  meaning  of 
that  flushed  cheek.  I  have  seen  it  so  many  times 
when  Jacobs  and  Schauffler  and  Miss  Harlow  taught. 
It  means,  "I  want  to  be  a  better  Sunday-school 
teacher.      How  can  I  learn  to  do  it  ?" 

I  have  two  recent  letters  lying  on  my  desk.     One  is 
from  Columbia,  South  Carolina. 

Dear  Sir  : 

I  am  anxious  to  take  up  the  teacher-training  course  of 
our  church.  I  feel  a  httle  afraid  to  undertake  it,  as  I  am  just 
a  young  girl  with  little  time  or  experience  to  help  me  along  ; 
but  I  am  very  much  interested  in  Sunday-school  work,  and, 
with  God's  help,  I  will  try  and  do  the  very  best  I  can  to  become 
a  good  teacher.  Hoping  to  hear  from  you  very  soom, 
I  am  respectfully, 

a  B. 

The  other  is  from  Lynchburg,  Virginia, 

Dear  Dr.  Hamill: 

Your  letter  received,  stating  that  I  was  the  first  to 
complete  the  full  teacher-training  course.  I  am  glad  to  know 
that  the  old  Dominion's  representative  came   out   first,    and 


Is  TeacJier -Training  Needed?  5 

that  the  honor  fell  on  one  of  old  Centenary's  teachers.  I  have 
eighty-one  scholars  in  my  Sunday-school  class,  and  am  also 
superintendent  of  our  Home  Department,  numbering  several 
hundred,  which  is  the  largest  in  Virginia.  Every  teacher  in 
our  church  should  complete  the  full  training  course. 

M.  M.  G. 

In  these  two  letters  extremes  meet,  and  prove  my 
point.  The  Lynchburg  teacher  was  already  one  of 
the  best  in  the  South,  a  degree  man  from  several 
schools  and  colleges,  but  among  the  first  to  respond 
to  the  teacher-training  call  of  his  church.  The  girl 
from  South  Carolina  speaks  for  many  thousands 
like  her,  with  little  time  or  experience  to  help, 
but  wanting  to  "try  and  do  the  very  best  to  be- 
come a  good  teacher."  And  because  I  am  sure 
of  my  ground,  I  say  that,  wherever  teacher-training 
fails,  it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  teachers  or  the  young 
peopla 

WHAT  THE  AGE  DEMANDS  IS  ELECTRIC 

It  is  the  "electric  age.  At  ten  years  of  age,  I 
reveled  in  a  stage-coach  ride  of  sixty  miles  a  day. 
Last  month  I  covered  the  same  route  and  distance  in 
an  hour.  At  twenty,  I  was  guest  in  a  hotel  that 
burned  gas,  and  was  mindful  "not  to  blow  it  out." 
At  thirty,  I  marveled  over  my  first  electric  light. 
"The  old  order  passeth. '  *  The  youth  of  the  day  sees 
more,  hears  more,  and  ofteai  knows  more  things,  than 
came  to  his  grandfather  in  a  lifetime.  If  he  is  not 
as  wise,  it  is  not  for  lack  of  knowledge.  The  multi- 
plying cities,  the  great  railroad  systems,  the  long- 
distance telephone,  the  public  library,  the  lyceum, 
the   Chautauqua,  the  "little  red   schoolhouse,"   the 


6  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

penny  daily,  the  Sunday-school  "lesson-leaf,"  are 
Aladdin's  lamp  to  our  boys  and  girls.  If  he  is  a 
country  lad,  the  rural  route  rider  lays  the  big 
world  daily  at  his  door.  I  heard  a  boy  of  fifteen 
recently,  in  a  country  day-school,  classify  and  sum- 
marize the  news  of  the  world  from  his  father's 
daily  in  a  way  that  would  have  made  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson gasp. 

What  does  this  mean  to  the  Sunday-school  teacher  ? 
It  means  that  this  boy,  alert,  wide  awake,  insistent, 
seeing  and  hearing  many  things,  and  always  on  the 
lookout  for  more,  is  his  Sunday-school  scholar.  It 
means  that  he  is  taught  by  the  finest  day-school 
teachers  in  the  world,  and  is  not  averse,  ars  I  am,  to 
drawing  odious  comparisons  between  the  teachers  of 
his  public  school  and  the  man  or  woman  who  teaches 
him  on  Sunday.  It  means  that  he  knows  good  teach- 
ing from  bad,  and  whether  the  Sunday-school  teach- 
er's  Bible  knowledge  is  genuine  and  thorough  or 
mere  "  make-beUeve. "  The  other  day  I  saw  from 
my  car  window  a  wagon-load  of  darkeys,  big  and 
little,  drawn  by  an  old  gray  mule,  trying  to  race  with 
our  Limited  Express.  The  public-school  teacher  is 
the  "Limited,"  and  the  Sunday-school  teacher  who 
makes  mock  of  his  work,  and  sneers  at  teacher-train- 
ing, is  the  gray  mule.  Spilman,  our  Baptist  field 
man,  tells  of  the  young  North-Carolinian  who  refused 
to  go  to  Sunday-school,  though  one  of  the  best  learn- 
ers of  the  village  day-school.  • '  They  teach  a  feller 
something  down  here,"  he  protested,  "but  up  there" 
— with  a  look  of  disgust  towards  the  village  church — 
'•  they  just  mess  with  me." 


Is  Tcachtr- Training  Needed?  7 

THE  CHURCH  IS  CONCERNED  AEOUT  IT 

And  well  it  may  be.  For  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
of  American  Protestantism  the  church  has  concerned 
itself  chiefly  over  the  message  from  the  pulpit,  and 
paid  little  heed  to  the  lesson  from  the  pew.  Big 
preachers,  high-priced  evangelists,  costly  choirs, 
luxurious  "auditoriums,"  were  the  accessories  of 
public  worship.  Subterranean  "basements,"  bare 
floors,  dust,  smoke,  niggardly  equipment  in  the  way 
of  books,  libraries,  maps,  blackboards,  etc.,  have 
usually  been  good  enough  for  the  Sunday-school — 
a  sort  of  juvenile  purgatory  through  which  the  child 
might  work  his  way  to  the  church  heaven  above- 
stairs.  The  stanch  old  Catholic  Church,  in  spite  of 
what  we  don' t  agree  with  in  it,  might  well  be  our 
example.  That  church's  concern  for  the  child,  and 
for  the  teaching  of  the  child,  as  against  the  churchly 
needs  of  the  adult,  is  as  three  to  ona  The  moi-ning 
mass  is  good  enough  for  the  one,  but  the  finest  Jesu- 
itical teaching  is  not  too  good  for  the  other.  I  think 
I  know  a  hundred  of  our  fine  city  churches  whose 
quartets  and  choirs  cost  more  money  per  annum  than 
would  hire  the  finest  teacher- training  experts  for  their 
Sunday-schools.  Within  four  years  I  know  of  one 
great  denomination,  that  counts  its  Sunday-school 
scholars  by  the  millions,  voting  down  an  appropria- 
tion of  only  three  thousand  dollars  a  year  to  keep  an 
expert  in  the  field  at  the  service  of  its  teachers,  though 
lavish  in  its  expenditure  for  the  salvation  of  the 
heathen. 

I  am  glad  to  note,  however,  the  breaking  up 
of  the  old  idea  that  great  sermons,  adult  conversions, 


8  How  to  Bc'coine  a  Trained  TcacJier 

and  "go-as-you-please"  Simday-schools,  is  the  scrip- 
tural order.  When  a  state  cooistitutiooial  convention, 
as  the  papers  inform  us,  can  spend  an  entire  week 
debating  how  to  improve  its  public  schools,  church 
synods,  convocations,  and  conferences  may  well  take 
hint.  Denver — Chicago — Winona  !  Of  what  are 
these  three  names  the  sign  ?  At  Denver,  in  June 
of  1902,  two  thousand  picked  representatives  of 
American  churches  came  together  into  their  triennial 
International  Sunday-school  Convention.  At  first  it 
was  a  question  of  many  opinions  as  to  what  kind  of 
Sunday-school  lessons  should  be  taught  At  the  last, 
after  days  of  discussion,  as  one  voice  it  was  the  judg- 
ment that,  whatever  the  system  of  Bible  study,  the 
Sunday-school  teacher,  rather  than  the  Sunday-school 
lesson,  should  hereafter  be  the  chief  concern.  At 
Chicago,  eight  months  later,  the  "  Religious  Education 
Association,"  with  four  hundred  pastors  and  college 
men,  met  to  consider  the  whole  field  of  related  re- 
ligious education.  Their  final  word,  as  at  Denver, 
was  the  need  of  trained  Sunday-school  teachers.  At 
Winona,  in  August  of  1903,  the  elect  men  and  women 
of  the  management  of  American  Sunday-school  work 
were  in  council  for  a  week,  and  the  making  of  Sun- 
day-school pastors  and  the  training  of  Sunday-school 
teachers  were  the  dominant  themes. 

Already  I  could  name  six  or  more  of  the  greater 
churches  which  have  recently  erected,  or  are  begin- 
ning to  erect,  teacher-training  departments,  and  are 
putting  training-courses  and  men  into  the  field. 
In  a  later  chapter  in  this  book  I  shall  have  some- 
thing to  say  of  the  great  work  they  are  doing.     And 


Is  7 eacJier -Teaming  Needed?  9 

of  the  nearly  sixty  inter-denominational  state  and 
provincial  Sunday-school  Associations  which  consti- 
tute the  International  Convention,  several  of  them 
have  been  doing  systematic  and  efficient  teacher- 
training  work  among  the  churches,  while  all  of  them 
have  formally  approved,  and  most  of  them  have 
entered  upon  it. 

Sixteen  years  ago,  when  I  began  my  Sunday-school 
rounds  as  an  itinerant  teacher-trainer,  I  can  recall  not 
a  few  humiliating  experiences  in  the  presence  of  the 
dignitaries  ol  the  church,  as  I  pleaded  for  an  ex 
cathedra  endorsement  of  teacher-training.  Brethren 
whose  divinity  had  been  well  doctored  would  eye  me 
askance  under  the  rims  of  their  gold  glasses  as  if  I 
were  vender  of  some  sort  of  pious  popcorn  or  patent 
medicine.  Times  have  changed,  and  the  doctors 
have  been  changed  by  them.  I  am  not  as  lonesome 
nowadays,  and  the  "popcorn"  business  has  grown 
and  prospered. 

THE  WAY  IS  OPENING 

Whether  through  denominational  01  interdenomi- 
national agency,  the  time  must  come  when  the  un- 
trained Sunday-school  teacher  will  be  without  excuse 
or  standing.  The  growth  of  public  sentiment  is  slow 
but  sure,  and  when  fully  aroused  it  is  resistless.  I 
have  tried  to  show  how  that  sentiment  is  crystalizing 
about  the  work  of  the  Sunday-school  teacher.  Years 
ago,  when  Horace  Mann  was  opening  the  way,  poli- 
ticians and  legislators  made  mock  of  his  plea  for 
thoroughly  trained  secular  teachers.  We  all  know 
how  that  battle  was  fought  and  won.     The  teachers 


lo  Hoiv  to  Bcco))ie  a  Trained  Teacher 

wanted  it,  the  patrons  of  the  schools  began  to  favor  it, 
the  taxpayers  finally  demanded  it.  Now  a  costly 
normal  school,  within  reach  of  and  free  to  every  pub- 
lic-school teacher,  is  taken  for  granted.  But  it  took 
more  than  fifty  years  to  bring  it  to  pass.  I  can  re- 
member when  a  Methodist  bishop  took  his  fling  at 
college-bred  preachers  and  preaching,  and  carried  the 
laugh  of  the  conference  with  him.  Look  for  him 
now,  and  you  will  find  him — in  the  cemetery.  Every 
plea  that  was  made,  every  battle  that  was  fought  for 
a  trained  ministry,  is  now  upon  the  side  of  trained 
Sunday-school  teachers.  We  are  heirs  of  all  the 
promises  as  well  as  the  achievements  of  secular  or 
religious  educational  history.  My  field  of  labor  is  in 
a  section  rightly  looked  upon  as  conservative  and  a 
little  old-fashioned,  particularly  in  religious  habits 
and  opinions.  I  only  wish  the  readers  of  The  Sun- 
day School  Times  could  make  my  rounds  with  me, 
and  see  something  of  the  graciousness,  for  my  work's 
sake,  of  my  bishops  and  ministerial  brethren.  And 
wliat  is  true  of  my  own  field  and  work  is  true  of  other 
fields  and  men. 

There  is  no  trouble  about  the  opening  of  the  "way." 
Lying  on  my  desk  is  the  report  of  a  college  professor 
who  is  using  his  spare  hours  to  organize  and  conduct 
class  after  class  in  teacher-training,  with  a  roll  of 
probably  two  hundred  students  in  one  city.  Letters 
come  to  me  from  pastors  wanting  to  know  how  to  go 
about  forming  teacher- training  classes.  Here  is  what 
a  plain  country  superintendent  writes  :  "  My  school  is 
small  and  away  from  the  railroad.  But  I  have  been 
reading    of  teacher-training    plans,    and   I   think    we 


Is  Teacher -Training  Needed?  il 

can  do  as  well  in  the  country  as  in  the  city.  I  am 
sure  we  need  it.  My  hardest  trial  is  to  get  good 
teachers.  I  send  you  twelve  names,  including  my 
officers  and  teachers  and  some  young  people  who  I 
believe  have  the  making  of  good  teachers  in  them. 
We  propose  to  go  through  with  it  to  the  end,  and  I 
intend,  as  superintendent,  to  keep  in  the  lead." 

Here  is  another  from  a  young  pastor  :  "Nothing 
has  so  stirred  up  my  Sunday-school  and  helped  my 
teachers  as  the  training-books  we  are  now  studying. 
I  can  see  the  change  coming  over  them."  In  nine 
out  of  ten  such  letters  there  is  not  a  hint  of  expert 
leadership.  Much  as  they  would  like  to  have  that 
they  are  not  wasting  time  looking  for  it.  Here  and 
there  is  a  good  Christian  public-school  or  college  man 
who  can  be  had  as  leader  for  the  asking,  but  in  the 
main  it  is  like  a  young  man  who  wrote  :  "I  need  it, 
and  I  am  going  to  have  it.  I  would  like  to  join  with 
others  in  a  class.  I  intend  to  try  to  get  others  in  the 
school  to  join  with  me,  but,  if  I  fail,  you  can  count  on 
me  single-handed  and  alone."  This  last  letter  struck 
the  keynote.  The  "way"  is  always  open  to  one 
who  has  a  "will"  to  do  it.  It  is  the  teacher  who 
says  ' '  You  can  count  on  me  single-handed  and  alone 
that  I  am  counting  on. 


WHO  SHOULD  DO  IT  ? 


II 


WHO  SHOULD  DO  IT? 

I  HAVE  a  bunch  of  five  teacher-training  keys,  each 
thoroughly  fitted  and  trusty.  They  are  ' '  skeleton ' ' 
keys,  which  means  that  they  fit  any  teacher-train- 
ing lock,  wherever  and  whatever  it  may  be.  Take  any 
one  of  the  keys,  try  it  upon  any  lock,  and  the  door 
will  open.  You  may  have  to  use  it  upon  a  succession 
of  doors  before  you  come  upon  what  you  are  seeking, 


but,  if  you  fail,  the  fault  is  not  in  the  key.  I  have 
given  to  each  of  my  keys  a  name,  and  I  believe  I  can 
put  the  five  keys  at  work  in  such  a  way  that  not  a 
door  of  hindrance  to  teacher-training  will  continue 
closed.      If  I  could  be  allowed  to  use  them  all  at  once, 

15 


1 6  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

every  key  turning  and  every  door  opening,  the  prob- 
lem of  teacher-training  would  speedily  be  solved. 
You  will  notice,  however,  that  three  of  my  keys  have 
been  little  used  and  are  growing  rusty.  Whatever 
has  been  done  in  ways  of  teacher-training  is  to  the 
credit  of  two  keys  only,  and  even  these  have  been 
sparingly  and  awkwardly  used.  Let  us  take  up  the 
keys  one  by  one,  and  consider  what  each,  in  order, 
might  do. 

THE  CHURCH  KEY 

The  Church  Key  comes  first.    The 
CHURCH  ^^^^1  training  of  Sunday-school  teachers 

will  continue  to  be  an  incident  until 
the  churches,  per  se,  shall  grapple  with  it. 
More  than  a  score  of  denominations,  small  and  great, 
constitute  the  International  Sunday-school  Convention. 
Some  of  them  count  their  schools  by  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands. Most  of  them  have  money  and  men  at  com- 
mand for  every  possible  problem.  All  of  them  are 
beginning  to  see  that  a  grave  question  affecting  their 
future  growth  is  that  of  trained  Sunday-school 
teachers. 

Yet  for  nearly  fifty  years,  since  the  Rev.  John  H. 
Vincent  as  pastor  at  Joliet,  Illinois,  in  1857,  organized 
the  first  teacher-training  class  known  to  church  his- 
tory, the  Church  Key  has  been  hanging  rusty  on 
an  unopened  door.  The  trouble  was  that  the  church 
unwisely  handed  over  the  key  to  the  Chautauqua 
movement  in  1874,  and  the  one  hundred  or  more 
summer  assemblies  which  sprang  from  that  move- 
ment, after  vainly  trying  to  do  for  the  churches  what 


JV/io  Should  Do  It?  17 

the  churches  ought  to  have  been  doing  for  themselves, 
have  about  lost  the  teacher-training  key. 

Along  with  the  Chautauqua,  as  early  as  1888,  came 
the  teacher-training  work  of  the  stronger  inter-denomi- 
national Sunday-school  associations,  Illinois  and  Ohio 
leading  the  way  ;  and  I  shall  later  try  to  show  how, 
under  serious  difficulties  and  with  inadequate  means, 
they  have  essayed  to  do  for  the  church  what  the 
church  was  bound  by  its  divine  commission  to  do  for 
itself.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  an  inter-denomi- 
national agency  can  only  supplement  the  denomi- 
national, and  can  never  supplant  or  displace  it. 
Inter-denominationalism  is  at  best  a  servant,  not  a 
master.  With  its  eye  upon  the  entire  field  of  the 
churches,  it  can  gather  what  is  best  in  all  and  serve 
the  needs  of  each. 

But  its  best  service  is  done  when  it  has  reinforced 
and  encouraged  the  denominations  severally  in  doing, 
each  for  itself,  its  own  proper  work.  It  is  the  duty 
and  right  of  each  church  to  organize,  maintain,  and 
direct  its  own  teacher-training.  It  owes  this  to  its 
teachers,  who  serve  it  without  pay  and  often  without 
thanks.  It  owes  it  to  the  Sunday-school  scholars  that 
they  shall  have  the  best  Bible  traming  the  church  can 
supply.  It  owes  it  to  the  Bible  itself  as  a  book  not 
easily  handled  by  even  the  trained  teacher,  and  often 
travestied  by  the  untrained.  The  church  can  speak 
with  authority  to  its  own  pastors  and  people,  who  will 
heed  what  it  says  if  only  for  the  sake  of  loyalty  to  it. 
Blood  is  thicker  than  water,  and  it  is  no  reproach  to 
inter-denominationalism  to  say  that  it  can  never  com- 
mand such  loyalty  as  a  worthy  churchman  will  render 


1 8  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

to  his  own  denomination.  If  I  see  one  thing  plainer 
than  another,  it  is  that  each  church  must  take  up  its 
own  burden  of  teacher-training,  and  by  every  honor 
it  can  confer  and  every  authority  it  can  rightfully 
exercise  inspire  its  teachers  to  prepare  themselves  for 
their  high  vocation.  It  is  a  comfort  to  know  that 
some  of  the  churches  are  beginning  to  do  this,  and 
that  the  lost  "church  key,"  that  opened  doors  for 
outsiders  and  left  its  own  doors  hard  and  fast,  is  being 
recovered  and  freed  from  rust. 

THE  SEMINARY  KEY 

It  is  a  question  whether  church 
^SEMINARY  U^    n  key  or  theological  seminary  key  is 

the  more  effective.  The  church 
has  the  final  word  of  authority,  but  the  church, 
in  these  days,  is  largely  what  the  seminaries  make  it. 
Let  the  seminary  magnify  a  principle  or  method,  and  in 
a  few  years,  among  the  laity,  it  will  be  reflected  in  a 
thousand  pastoral  fields.  I  have  an  easy  and  con- 
vincing illustration.  A  few  years  ago  the  Louisville 
Baptist  Seminary  had  at  its  head  a  prince  among 
preachers  and  scholars,  Dr.  John  A.  Broadus.  He 
was  a  devoted  friend  of  the  Sunday-school  and  its 
teachers,  and  impressed  his  students  with  the  value 
and  dignity  of  Sunday-school  work.  Beginning  with 
Sunday-school  "practice  work"  in  Louisville,  and 
extending  it  throughout  the  entire  South,  the  old 
"Broadus  boys,"  and  their  worthy  seminary  suc- 
cessors, have  become  the  aggressive  organizers  and 
teacher-trainers  ot  a  great  and  growing  church.  A 
''pastor's  Sunday-school  institute"  has  become  the 


Wko  Should  Do  It?  19 

big  annual  event  of  the  seminary  calendar,  and  the 
Sunday-school  idea  is  leavening  the  Baptist  lump 
from  Virginia  to  Texas. 

Recently  I  was  asked  to  contribute  to  a  symposium 
upon  ''What  can  be  done  by  our  seminaries  to  ad- 
vance our  Sunday-school  work  ? ' '  My  first  plea  was 
for  a  better  Sunday-school  "spirit"  in  the  semi- 
naries, an  esprit  du  corps  like  that  at  Louisville.  The 
"seminary  key"  has  too  much  of  the  smell  of 
"ology"  and  dogma  about  it,  and  too  little  of  the 
scent  of  the  living  flowers  that  grow,  or  ought  to 
grow,  in  the  pastor's  garden.  The  young  men  are 
too  busy  digging  for  Hebrew  particles  and  Greek 
roots,  and  are  not  enough  concerned  for  the  plain 
people  in  the  Sunday-school  pews.  So  far  as  the 
writer  knows,  there  is  not  a  Sunday-school  chair,  or 
the  pretense  of  it,  in  an  American  theological  semi- 
nary, though  professors  abound  for  everything  else, 
from  Sanskrit  to  sociology.  With  (in  round  num- 
bers) 150,000  American  Sunday-schools,  1,500,000 
officers  and  teachers,  and  15,000,000  enrolled  mem- 
bers, all  depending  for  skilled  leadership  chiefly  upon 
the  output  of  our  seminaries,  it  is  a  little  singular  that 
only  four  or  five  of  these  seminaries  include  a  Sunday- 
school  text-book  in  their  curricula,  a  few  more  hold 
Sunday-sell ool  "lecture  courses,"  not  always  by  ex- 
perts, and  most  of  them  depend  largely  upon  a  student 
practice-work  in  neighboring  Sunday-schools,  usually 
without  official  direction  and  revision. 

Theology  is  good  and  necessary,  but  Sunday-school 
soul-winning  and  teacher-training  are  better.  West 
Point  drills  its  cadets  thoroughly  in  science,  mathe- 


20  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

matics,  and  language,  but  does  not  stop  with  theory. 
The  West  Point  graduate  is  nothing  if  not  master  of 
detail  and  trainer  of  others.  From  filling  a  cartridge 
to  maneuvering  an  army  corps  he  knows  how  to  do 
things,  and  is  never  so  happy  as  when  transforming  an 
awkward  squad  into  well-disciplined  soldiers.  A  young 
pastor  just  out  from  the  seminary,  who  is  not  a  type 
of  the  better  class  of  our  seminary  men,  said  to  me 
recently,  upon  urging  him  to  conduct  a  training-class  : 
"I  haven't  time, — if  I  had,  I  wouldn't  know  how. 
Let  the  superintendent  train  them  — it's  not  my  busi- 
ness." I  can  well  believe  it  was  of  this  man's  semi- 
nary examination  a  Sunday-school  wit  remarked, 
"They  asked  ten  questions  about  angels,  and  not  one 
about  the  child."  I  beg  pardon  for  insisting  that  it 
is  the  *'  business"  of  the  ex-seminary  pastor  to  train 
his  Sunday-school  workers,  and  of  the  seminary  to 
cause  him  to  "know  how."  My  " seminary  key " 
ought  to  *be  the  most  serviceable,  but  I  am  sorry  to 
say  it  is  the  rustiest  of  the  bunch. 

THE  pastor'  S  key 

The  pastor  of  a  church  has  been 
PASTOR  U"    "—I  defined  as  "the  eye,  the  ear,  and 

the  last  word."  He  ought  to  see 
and  hear  everything  that  makes  for  the  welfare  of 
his  charge.  His  word  ought  to  be,  and  usually  is,  the 
final  word  of  authority.  There  is  nothing  more  beau- 
tiful, and  at  times  more  pathetic,  than  the  upturning 
of  the  hearts  of  the  people  toward  their  pastors.  It 
is  like  the  flowers  that  turn  their  faces  toward  the  sun. 
Even  the  children  give  their  brightest  smile  and  word 


Who  Should  Do  It?  21 

to  the  pastor,  and  the  stalwart  men  of  the  street  in- 
stinctively pay  him  honor  when  he  comes  among 
them.  In  many  years  of  Sunday-school  work  I  have 
noted  this  singular  respect  for  men  of  the  cloth.  I 
pray  God  it  may  never  be  less.  It  has  been  my  con- 
stant habit,  in  every  teacher-training  endeavor,  to  lean 
heavily  upon  these  men  of  God,  whom  he  has  called 
to  be  "overseers"  of  his  church.  I  count  a  hearty 
word  of  advice  and  encouragement  from  a  pastor  to 
his  Sunday-school  workers  as  worth  more  than  all  my 
letters  and  speeches.  Many  times,  when  discouraged 
over  attempts  to  start  a  teacher-training  work,  a  touch 
of  the  pastor' s  hand,  a  word  from  his  lips,  has  scat- 
tered indifference  and  secured  success.  I  think  I 
owe  as  much  to  this  gracious  pastoral  word  as  any  man 
living,  and  I  have  come  to  rely  upon  it  when  every- 
thing else  fails. 

I  take  my  appeal  to  these  men.  If  the  church  has 
failed  to  put  into  your  hands  a  teacher-training  plan, 
if  the  seminary  failed  to  give  you  a  Sunday-school 
training,  your  "pastor's  key,"  brethren  of  the  cloth, 
can  open  the  door  and  solve  the  problem.  By  virtue 
of  their  work,  your  teachers  are  your  under-pastors, 
and  can  help  largely  to  make  or  unmake  your  minis- 
try. How  well  or  poorly  they  teach,  it  is  for  you 
chiefly  to  determine.  No  other  man  can  do  with  or 
for  them  what  you  can  do.  The  good  shepherd  "  put- 
teth  forth  his  sheep,  he  goeth  before  them,  and  the 
sheep  follow  him  ;  for  they  know  his  voice,  and  a 
stranger  will  they  not  follow," 

One  of  the  earliest  and  tenderest  recollections  of  my 
teacher-training  work  is  of  a  gray-haired  Presbyterian 


22  How  to  Become  a  Teamed  Teacher 

pastor,  a  man  of  rare  scholarship  and  of  well-rounded 
pastoral  efficiency,  whose  ministry  of  nearly  fifty  years 
had  brought  honor  to  himself  and  his  church.  I  had 
tried  to  set  forth  the  need  and  practicability  of  teacher- 
training,  but  met  with  seeming  mdifference.  The  old 
man  took  me  to  his  home,  called  in  his  workers,  took 
the  points  of  my  plea  and  made  them  his  own,  and 
with  scarce  an  effort,  in  ways  that  only  a  loved  pastor 
could  use,  organized  a  class,  heading  the  roll  with  his 
own  name.  When  I  praised  his  good  work,  he  said  : 
"  I  get  more  out  of  it  than  I  put  into  it.  It  renews 
my  own  youth,  and  will  be  about  all  I  can  leave 
behind." 

THE  superintendent'  S  KEY 

I  have  asked  many  superinten- 
^suPER!NTCNDE«T"^^^n  dcnts,   "  What  is  the  one  hardest 

thing  you  have  to  do  ? "  And  their 
uniform  answer  was  "To  get  teachers."  The 
question  of  "  supply  teachers  "  invariably  comes  to  the 
front  in  Sunday-school  conventions.  I  am  not  surprised 
that  it  does,  and  I  have  not  found  that  the  usual  ready- 
made  devices  from  the  platform  meet  the  difficulty. 
The  cashier  of  a  Southern  bank,  superintendent  of  a 
Presbyterian  Sunday-school,  confronted  me  recently 
with  this  old  and  vexed  question.  W^hen  I  had  put 
before  him  my  stock  alternatives  of  a  "supply  class" 
keeping  a  week  ahead  of  the  school  in  lesson  prepa- 
ration, or  of  pledged  "emergency"  volunteers,  his 
countenance  fell  as  he  pronounced  them  a  "snare 
and  a  makeshift."  I  heartily  concurred,  and  my 
parting  word  was  :   "You  will  have  to  grow  your  own 


IV/w  Should  Do  It  ?  23 

crop  of  teachers.      It  is  the  one  thing  to  do,  and  you 
are  the  one  man  to  do  it." 

I  tried  to  tell  him  how  he  could  pick  from  his 
school  the  most  hopeful  subjects  for  teacher-training, 
put  them  under  his  most  competent  teacher  in  the 
regular  session  of  the  school,  select  for  them  a  teacher- 
training  course,  taking  the  place,  for  the  time  being, 
of  the  International  Lesson  ;  make  much  of  them,  in 
honor,  and  pledge  them  in  advance  to  the  ministry 
of  teaching  when  the  course  was  completed.  Any 
other  way  out  of  the  difficulty  is  at  best  a  "make- 
shift," and  many  superintendents  are  beginning  to 
find  it  out. 

Whatever  the  pastor  may  or  may  not  do,  the  prob- 
lem of  teacher- training,  in  its  last  analysis,  is  "next" 
to  the  superintendent.  The  failure  of  his  teachers, 
or  his  failure  to  get  more  teachers,  is  his  peculiar 
burden,  and  involves  his  own  good  name.  The 
churches  generally  look  to  the  superintendent  to 
choose  his  teachers,  and  lay  the  direct  blame  of  their 
failure  upon  him.  Getting  consent  of  somebody  to 
teach  a  class  is  not  his  main  difficulty.  It  is  finding 
those  who  know  what  and  how  to  teach. 

The  superintendent  has  found  by  hard  experience 
that  piety  is  one  thing,  and  skill  to  teach  is  another. 
He  needs  a  combination  of  both,  and  his  trouble  is 
largely  on  the  educational  side.  His  call  to  those 
already  spiritually  equipped  is  usually  met  by  such 
protests  as  these  :  "1  am  not  a  teacher  ;"  "  I  do  not 
know  the  Bible  well  enough;"  "I  can't  manage 
boys  and  girls  ;"  "  If  I  knew  how,  I  would  be  will- 
ing."     I   find  no  fault  with  these  excuses.      They 


24  How  to  Become  a  Trahied  Teacher 

come  from  a  conviction  that  Sunday-school  teaching 
is  a  serious  and  delicate  work,  and  that  piety  alone, 
without  specific  preparation  for  it,  should  disqualify 
the  candidate. 

No  man  is  closer  to  his  teachers  than  the  faithful 
superintendent.  No  man,  not  even  the  pastor,  should 
try  to  come  between  him  and  them,  if  the  superinten- 
dent is  doing  his  duty.  No  true  superintendent  is  so 
wanting  in  influence  over  his  helpers  as  to  be  unable 
to  lead  them  into  ways  of  improvement.  I  like  the 
superintendent  who  magnifies  his  office  and  leads  his 
school,  and  does  not  hand  round  his  problems  to  be 
solved  by  others.  Let  him  try  the  key  of  his  great 
office  upon  this  problem  of  teacher-training.  His 
success  will  depend  upon  three  things, — his  pride, 
his  pluck,  his  persistence  ;  his  pride  in  his  standing 
as  a  superintendent,  his  pluck  in  striking  out  into 
new  ways,  his  persistence  in  stubbornly  holding  to 
his  purpose  until  success  is  achieved. 

THE  teacher'  S  KEY 

I  make  much  of  my  "teacher's 
TEACHER^^^^^^  key,"    and    the   key   itself  shows 

how  well  the  teachers  have  begun 
to  use  it.  It  is  like  the  old  fable  in  ^sop  of 
the  lark  and  the  wheat-field.  As  long  as  the  farmer 
waited  for  his  neighbors  to  cut  his  wheat,  the  little 
larks  might  make  themselves  at  home.  But  when 
the  farmer  decided  to  do  his  own  cutting,  Mrs.  Lark 
and  family  went  visiting.  I  believe  strongly  all  I 
have  written  about  "church,"  "seminary,"  "pas- 
tor,"  and   "superintendent's"   key.     But  I  studied 


IV/w  Should  Do  It  ?  25 

inertia  in  my  school  days,  and  learned  that  large 
bodies  move  slowly.  Perhaps  the  new  metal,  ra- 
dium, which  they  say  is  to  revolutionize  the  old  order 
of  nature,  may  help  to  hurry  them  up.  Meantime 
Farmer  John  would  better  cut  his  own  wheat 

The  teacher's  key,  in  the  teacher's  own  hand,  is 
slow  but  sure.  It  would  turn  far  more  easily  if  the 
other  keys  were  constandy  in  use,  but  without  them 
it  has  proved  its  effectiveness  in  the  hands  of  at  least 
ten  thousand  American  Sunday-school  teachers. 

At  Cold  Harbor,  under  General  Lee,  a  brigade  of 
us— raw  recruits  from  the  "brush  country"— waited 
several  hours  for  General  or  Colonel  Somebody 
to  come  along  on  horseback  and  lead  us  into  our 
first  charge.  Becoming  a  litde  excited  by  bursting 
shells  and  buzzing  minie-balls,  and  ignorant  of  the 
conventionalities  of  such  an  occasion,  we  finally 
popped  out  from  our  hiding-place  like  so  many  jack 
rabbits,  and  made  the  charge  on  our  own  account. 
It  was  done  with  roughness  and  despatch,  but  it  won 
the  day. 

Individually  or  collectively,  with  or  without  leaders 
or  orders,  the  Sunday-school  teachers  who  are  really 
concerned  about  the  matter  should  quit  waidng  and 
begin  work  for  themselves.  A  self-trained  teacher 
may  lack  a  little  in  finish,  but,  like  a  home-made 
shoe  or  coat,  wears  well.  If  a  company  of  teachers 
can  come  together  and  make  a  success  of  a  teachers' - 
meeting,  they  have  already  learned  to  do  as  hard  a 
work  as  maintaining  a  teacher-training  class. 

In  a  litde  city  some  years  ago,  I  advised  a  small 
teachers' -meeting  that  wanted  to  broaden  the  scope 


26  How  to  Become  a  T?-amcd  Teacher 

of  its  study,  and  make  its  sessions  more  profitable 
to  read  and  discuss  by  chapters,  for  twenty  minutes 
of  each  session,  Dr.  Trumbull's  "Yale  Lectures  on 
the  Sunday-School."  The  advice  was  taken,  and 
with  a  single  copy  of  the  book  in  hand  a  course  of 
teacher-training  was  begun,  and  continued  through 
other  books,  with  the  result  of  revolutionizing  the 
antiquated  methods  of  the  school,  and  making  it 
one  of  the  foremost  in  the  state.  It  was  a  crude, 
homespun  way  of  getting  at  it,  but  it  won,  and  that 
is  always  the  main  point. 

I  remember,  when  a  boy,  chasing  a  bird  through 
ten  acres  of  meadow  to  put  salt  on  its  tail.  I 
was  advised  by  a  kind  friend  that  this  was  a  sure 
method  of  bird-catching.  I  have  not  lost  faith  in 
the  method, — for  other  boys.  The  trouble  with  me 
— or  with  the  bird — was  in  not  finding  the  "point 
of  contact."  I  had  not  then  read  Mr.  Du  Bois's 
fine  book  on  that  subject. 

My  experience,  however,  leads  me  to  counsel  the 
teachers  who  may  read  these  lines  to  quit  chasing  the 
bird  in  the  meadow,  and  put  salt  on  the  bird  in  hand. 
It  does  not  pertain  to  this  chapter  to  show  how  this 
may  be  done.  The  question  is  first  whether  the 
teacher,  if  a  way  can  be  opened  to  him,  has  the 
faith  and  courage  to  attempt  for  himself,  unaided,  a 
work  which  he  has  been  vainly  waiting  for  others  to 
aid  him  in  doing.  The  "teacher's  key"  is  both  sign 
and  test.  It  points  the  way,  and  it  tests  the  nerve 
of  the  teacher. 


WHAT  IT  SHOULD  BE 


Ill 

WHAT  IT  SHOULD  BE 

PIRST,  and  chiefly,  it  should  be  the  study  of  a 
■1  course  of  teacher-training  books.  I  am  some- 
times met  at  the  outset  by  the  objection  that  "train- 
ing comes  by  experience,  not  by  books."  My  answer 
is  that  a  book  itself  may  be  the  finest  exposition  of 
teaching  experience.  On  my  table  lie  two  little  books. 
In  one  is  the  clear-cut  statement  of  teaching  principles 
by  one  who  worked  his  way  from  a  district  school 
to  the  presidency  of  a  great  state  university  ;  in  the 
other  is  the  broad  common  sense  of  one  who  is  easily 
the  Nestor  of  American  Sunday-school  teachers.  The 
objection  would  sweep  away  all  educational  training, 
whether  religious  or  secular.  Books  are  mainly  the 
working-tools  of  state  normal  college  and  common 
school.  The  young  student  in  training  for  the  state's 
license  to  teach,  or  the  schoolboy  trudging  home  with 
well-filled  satchel,  illustrates  the  training  value  of 
books.  The  Sunday-school  teacher  has  no  friend  so 
near  at  hand  and  capable  of  serving  his  ambition  as 
a  well-chosen  training-book. 

I  am  met  by  another  objector  who  cites  the  old 
maxim  that  "a  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing," 
and  challenges  any  system  of  teacher-training  as  of 
necessity  elementary,  and  therefore  superficial.  But 
elementary  learning  is  not  of  necessity  superficial. 
The  multiplication-table  and  the  correct  spelling  of 

29 


30  How  to  Become  a  Tramed  Teacher 

words  are  the  simplest  elements  of  learning,  but  they 
run  through  the  entire  gamut  of  scholarship.  It  is 
not  so  much  the  quantity  as  the  quality  of  one' s  learn- 
ing that  gives  it  value.  If  teacher-training  does  no 
more  than  serve  as  a  guide-post  in  pointing  out  the 
way  to  future  effort,  it  will  have  done  a  noble  service. 
Personally  I  can  testify  to  the  invaluable  help  I  re- 
ceived from  a  little  book  which  gave  me  my  first  real 
view  of  the  Bible  and  my  first  impulse  to  its  sys- 
tematic study. 

One  other  objection  worth  considering  is  the  lack 
of  expert  leadership  to  organize  and  conduct  teacher- 
training  classes.  "Training  needs  a  trainer,"  they 
say.  But  trainers  are  being  evolved  out  of  the  very 
processes  of  training.  From  a  little  company,  with- 
out skilled  leadership,  faithfully  studying  together, 
one  who  has  the  training  instinct  will  be  developed. 
There  is  a  natural  and  inevitable  development  of 
leadership  for  every  new  movement.  When  the 
steamboat  was  invented,  the  flatboatman  became  its 
pilot  or  captain.  When  the  scythe  was  displaced  by 
the  reaper,  the  scytheman  began  to  drive  the  reaper. 
With  seven  hundred  training-classes  and  ten  thousand 
students  in  my  charge,  nine  out  of  ten  are  doing  the 
required  work  under  untrained  leaders,  who  are  learn- 
ing to  cross  bridges  as  they  come  to  them. 

Summing  up  what  a  teacher-training  course  should 
be,  I  would  say  ;  It  must  largely  be  elementary, 
for  the  many  to  whom  an  advanced  course  is  im- 
possible. It  should  be  flexible,  allowing  for  ad- 
vanced work  for  those  who  are  capable.  It  should 
consist  of  a  few  choice  books,  small  in  compass,  not 


What  It  Should  Be  31 

expensive,  written  by  undisputed  masters  of  both 
theory  and  practice.  It  should  require  honest  study 
from  the  students,  and  not  tempt  them  to  pious  fraud 
in  a  contest  for  its  honors.  It  should  have  a  definite 
objective,  in  the  way  of  examinations,  a  diploma  for 
those  who  have  done  conscientious  work,  and  public 
recognition  locally  and  generally,  wherever  both  are 
practicable.  It  should  be  comprehensive,  including 
in  well-proportioned  parts  every  department  of  learn- 
ing in  which  a  Sunday-school  teacher  needs  to  be 
trained. 

What  are  these  several  parts  ?  First,  the  Bible,  as 
the  one  book  the  teacher  must  teach.  Second,  the 
scholar,  who  is  to  be  taught  and  trained  in  the  knowl- 
edge and  use  of  this  book.  Third,  the  teacher  and 
the  art  of  teaching.  Fourth,  the  school,  in  which  the 
teaching  and  training  are  to  be  chiefly  done.  Last, 
the  church,  under  whom  and  for  whom  should  be  all 
religious  teaching  and  training. 

DO  YOU  KNOW  YOUR  BIBLE  ? 

I  shall  not  indulge  in  platitudes  about  the  Bible, 
— its  divine  origin,  its  infallible  doctrines,  its  mar- 
velous achievements.  I  can  easily  take  these  for 
granted.  I  am  more  concerned  for  the  Bible  as  a 
text-book  in  the  hands  of  an  untrained  teacher. 
The  old  illusion  still  widely  holds,  that  any  pious 
man  or  woman,  Bible  in  hand,  is  competent  to  teach. 
A  certain  indefinable  "afflatus,"  the  promise  or 
proof  of  which  I  could  never  discern,  is  supposed  to 
hover  over  the  good  man  who  teaches  with  pious 
motive  and  bungljng  method.      I  can  find  no  warrant 


32  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

in  the  Bible  for  this  ancient  illusion.  David's  prayer 
was,  "  Make  me  to  understand  the  way  of  thy  pre- 
cepts ;  so  shall  I  talk  of  thy  wondrous  works."  Paul's 
last  plea  was  that  Timothy  might  "  rightly  divide  the 
word  of  truth."  Perhaps  no  two  men  were  more 
honored  of  God  in  the  use  of  the  Bible  than  Mr. 
Moody  and  Mr.  Jacobs.  Each  said  of  the  other, 
"He  knows  the  Bible  better  than  any  man  living." 
I  happened  to  know  something  of  the  intense  and 
methodic  Bible  study  of  these  two  men.  Here  and 
there  God  may  have  made  use  of  sanctified  ignorance, 
but  it  is  his  rule  to  honor  men  only  as  they  "rightly 
divide  "  his  Book. 

I  know  I  shall  be  met  by  some  who  will  say  that  the 
Bible  is  a  hard  book,  and  that  it  can  never  be  truly 
learned  except  in  the  languages  in  which  it  was  writ- 
ten. If  it  be  hard,  it  is  a  comfort  to  think  of  the  in- 
numerable lights  converging  upon  it.  As  to  its 
Hebrew  and  Greek  originals,  my  English  Bible  is  not 
to  be  despised.  Every  word  of  it  has  been  threshed 
over  and  over  by  the  scholars  of  many  centuries,  and 
I  can  even  presume  to  face  the  man  of  Hebrew  and 
Greek  with  my  Revised  Version  and  a  standard  com- 
mentary in  hand.  Indeed,  I  have  been  made  to 
question  at  times,  in  the  presence  of  pretentious  and 
"liberal"  scholarship,  if  the  modicum  of  Hebrew 
and  Greek  behind  it  was  not  the  "fly  in  the  pot"  of 
Bible  ointment. 

I  am  not  a  stickler  for  particular  methods  of  Bible 
study.  "  One  man's  meat  is  another  man's  poison." 
I  would  rather  know  one  well-defined  principle  un- 
derlying its  sixty-six  books  than  to  become  expert  in 


What  It  Should  Be  33 

the  use  of  a  score  of  methods.  The  three  qualities  in 
Bible  study  which  I  exalt  are  :  First,  a  spiritual 
grasp  of  the  truth,  which  comes  only  through  slow- 
wrought  experience  to  those  who  "  will  do  the  will  of 
God  ; "  the  intellectual  grasp,  which  comes  only  by 
hard  study,  as  with  any  other  book  ;  the  educational 
grasp,  which  comes  only  of  systematic  study.  The 
trouble  with  much  of  our  Bible  study  is  its  aimless- 
ness  and  lack  of  educational  system.  Here  is  the 
testimony  of  one  of  the  foremost  Bible  students  of  the 
age  :  "  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that 
Bible  study  consists  in  the  study  of  isolated  texts,  or 
in  the  study  of  single  chapters,  or  even  in  the  study 
of  entire  books.  A  man  might  study  verses  all  his 
life,  and  know  comparatively  little  about  the  Bible." 
It  is  the  difference  between  knowing  the  world  about 
us  through  microscope  or  telescope.  When  a  boy,  I 
was  given  the  former,  and  reveled  in  wing  of  gnat 
and  eye  of  fly.  Later,  I  saw  the  heavens  through  the 
telescope,  and  entered  at  once  into  comradeship  with 
the  universe. 

Let  me  test  you  as  a  Bible  student  by  a  few  perti- 
nent questions.  Have  you  a  purpose  in  your  Bible 
study  ?  Or  are  you  drifting  from  Sunday  to  Sunday 
over  the  few  hurriedly  scanned  verses  of  your  Sunday- 
school  lesson  ?  Are  you  content  with  the  opinions  of 
others,  or  are  you  trying  to  find  a  way  to  the  truth  of 
the  Bible  for  yourself  ?  Have  you  a  plan  of  Bible 
study  ?  Can  you  call  up  from  memory  in  order  the 
salient  events  in  the  history  of  God's  chosen  people, 
through  theocracy,  kingdoms,  and  exile,  thence  on- 
ward through  Christ  and  the  apostles  ?     Can  you  call 


34  How  to  Become  a  Tyained  Teacher 

the  roll  of  Hebrew  prophets,  and  assign  to  each  his 
place  and  message  ?  Can  you  give  me  a  "character 
sketch"  of  Bible  heroes  and  heroines?  Can  you 
pass  a  simple  schoolboy  examination  upon  the  life 
and  ministry  of  our  Lord  ?  Can  you  think  your  way 
through  any  book  of  the  Bible,  chapter  by  chapter, 
knowing  that  you  know  it  ?  Can  you  tell  me  how  the 
Bible  came  to  us,  or  give  me  the  story  of  your  Eng- 
lish Bible  from  Wycliffe's  rude  copy  to  the  noble 
version  from  which  you  teach  ?  If  you  say  you  are 
too  busy  to  learn  this,  I  can  point  you  to  thousands 
of  young  people  who  have  done  or  are  doing  all  this 
and  more.  But  it  was  done  under  a  plan  of  sys- 
tematic study,  from  some  such  small  book  as  Dun- 
ning's  "Bible  Studies," — my  little  teacher-training 
"  standby." 

HOW  TO   KNOW  YOUR  SCHOLAR 

It  is  an  era  of  books  and  lectures  on  pedagogy, 
"  child  psychology,"  "  paidology,"  which  have  a 
classical  sound,  and  are  much  in  evidence.  I  prefer 
to  write  about  plain  boys  and  girls.  "If  he  means 
human  natur,"  said  a  countryman  at  a  convention, 
while  a  lecturer  was  unfolding  his  paidology  from  a 
chart,  "  I  know  something  about  that  myself."  In 
the  multitude  of  child-counselors  there  is  not  scrip- 
tural  assurance  of  safety.  I  sometimes  turn  away 
from  these  glib  paidologists  with  the  feeling  I  had 
when  the  phrenologists  used  to  examine  our  craniums, 
and  make  charts  of  our  future  destiny — at  a  dollar  per 
chart.  Human  nature  in  books  and  in  boys  is  not 
always  the  same.      The  best  book  on  child  study  I 


What  It  Should  Be  35 

know  of  is  a  little  black  Book,  to  which  I  refer  all 
problems  of  religious  psychology.  Next  to  that  book 
in  my  library  is  Froebel.  I  beg  pardon  for  taking  my 
paidology  from  the  Bible,  though  I  am  glad,  however, 
to  pay  tribute  to  much  of  the  current  study  of  the 
Sunday-school  scholar,  especially  to  such  books  as 
Miss  Harrison's  "Study  of  Child  Nature,"  DuBois's 
"Point  of  Contact,"  Trumbull's  "Hints  on  Child 
Training,"  and  Forbush's  "Boy  Problem."  A  fault, 
as  I  see  it,  in  most  of  the  recent  books,  is  their  ex- 
clusive concern  for  childhood.  The  foundation  of  all 
teaching  and  training  is  childhood,  indeed,  but  I  risk 
being  held  as  a  heretic  in  suggesting  that  the  boys 
and  girls  of  the  intermediate,  and  the  big  boys  and 
girls  of  the  advanced  department,  are  quite  as  deserv- 
ing and  needful  of  our  concern-  My  neighbor  is 
building  a  fine  home,  and  his  contractor  took  much 
pains  over  the  foundation.  But,  as  a  wise  master- 
builder,  I  notice  that  he  is  equally  painstaking  with 
the  rising  stories  of  brick.  I  would  as  soon  have  a 
faulty  foundation  as  a  leaky  roof  to  my  house,  and  it 
does  not  follow  that  because  the  foundation  is  secure 
the  roof  will  not  let  in  water.  I  am  frank  to  say  that 
I  believe  primary  books  and  theories  are  a  little  over- 
done, and  are  obscuring  problems  quite  as  grave  and 
imminent.  Certainly  the  "adolescent  period"  folks 
and  the  primary  folks,  with  their  counter  claims,  need 
to  get  together. 

As  to  the  study  of  the  scholar  in  his  intellectual 
states  and  processes,  I  would  like  to  have  every  teacher 
trained  to  know  the  laws  of  mind,  and  the  order  and 
relative  value  and  use  of  the  unfolding  mental  facuU 


36  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

ties.  But  I  doubt  if  the  average  teacher,  who  is 
usually  a  busy  person,  has  time  or  need  for  systematic 
study  of  pure  psychology.  The  applied  psychology 
of  such  books  as  I  have  named  will  come  nearer 
meeting  his  need  and  opportunity.  Give  me  one  who 
really  loves  boys  and  girls,  whose  affection  leads  him 
into  intimate  personal  contact  with  them  at  all  points, 
who  has  faith  in  the  wisdom  of  his  Bible  to  interpret 
human  nature  in  all  of  its  changing  moods,  whose 
chief  concern  is  to  save  souls  and  form  Christian 
character, — the  best  I  can  do  for  such  a  teacher  is  to 
commend  to  him  one  of  the  four  books  I  have  named, 
and  leave  professional  pedagogy  and  paidology  to 
take  care  of  themselves. 

THE  WELL-ROUNDED  TEACHER 

There  are  few  "born  teachers."  They  are  as  rare 
as  born  artists  or  authors.  Most  of  the  successful 
teachers  of  the  day  were  bunglers  at  beginning,  but 
by  study  and  practice  have  mounted  step  by  step  to 
success.  Learning  how  to  teach  is  not  harder  or 
more  complex  than  learning  to  keep  accounts,  to  bind 
books,  to  run  a  farm.  It  involves  both  science  and 
art.  The  science  of  teaching  gives  one  the  principles 
by  which  teaching  must  be  shaped.  The  art  comes 
from  patient  application  of  these  principles  to  the 
work  of  instruction.  There  are  certain  fundamental 
principles  of  teaching,  few,  simple,  and  unchanging. 
The  great  teachers  of  the  past  used  them,  and  every 
successful  teacher  consciously  or  unconsciously  em- 
ploys them.  Christ  gave  them  his  sanction.  When 
a  "certain   lawyer"   stood    up,   tempting   him   with 


What  If  Should  Be  37 

questions  about  his  neighbor,  and  our  Lord  put  the 
burden  of  answer  back  upon  his  questioner,  he  was 
enforcing  what  is  now  one  of  the  "seven  laws"  in 
Gregory' s  Httle  book  :  "Use  the  pupil's  own  mind, 
exciting  his  self-activity." 

To  learn  thoroughly  such  a  principle,  then  to  make 
one' s  self  master  of  it  by  practice,  is  far  better  than 
slavish  copying  of  methods  without  understanding 
the  reason  for  them.  Ready  resort  to  borrowed 
methods  is  the  bane  of  much  modern  teaching.  The 
mere  copyist  shifts  from  copy  to  copy,  and,  though 
some  of  his  methods  may  happen  to  hit,  is  shooting 
arrows  in  the  dark.  Sunday-school  conventions  and 
institutes  are  a  hindrance  rather  than  a  help  to  the 
teacher  who  takes  home  from  them  for  use  in  his 
class  a  method  the  reason  for  which  he  does  not 
understand.  What  the  trained  Sunday-school  teacher 
needs  is  to  be  grounded  in  the  unchanging  laws  of 
teaching,  and  from  these  to  deduce  his  own  methods, 
or  wisely  adapt  the  methods  of  others.  Otherwise  he 
is  like  one  trying  to  pick  out  of  piles  of  stone  and 
brick  and  lumber  the  architect' s  plan  of  a  building. 

I  cannot  urge  too  strongly  upon  those  who  are  am- 
bitious to  succeed  as  teachers  the  study  of  these 
"principia,"  or  first  things  in  teaching.  They  come 
only  by  study  and  from  books.  The  old-world  expe- 
rience transmits  them  to  the  new,  as  a  heritage  from 
master-teachers  like  Socrates,  Paul,  Luther,  and 
Arnold  of  Rugby.  Gregory' s  ' '  Seven  Laws  of  Teach- 
ing," Trumbull's  "Teaching  and  Teachers,"  Wells's 
"Sunday-school  Success,"  are  modern  expressions 
of  these  principles,  all  the  better  for  Sunday-school 


38  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

teachers  because  they  deal  with  the  application  of  the 
principles  rather  than  with  the  principles  themselves. 

The  Sunday-school  teacher  needs  training  in  other 
matters  than  the  science  and  art  of  teaching.  He 
needs  to  study  the  ever-broadening  field  of  his  work. 
He  is  more  than  instructor.  He  is  student,  teacher, 
trainer,  officer,  under-pastor,  shepherd.  He  is  the 
spiritual  ally  of  the  home,  the  recruiting  officer  of 
the  church,  the  conscience-maker  of  the  state.  His 
work,  for  the  first  time  in  religious  history,  is  being 
inquired  into  by  university  and  college  men,  who 
seek  to  correlate  it  with  their  o-wn.  He  is  vidette  and 
drill-master  of  the  church.  Over  against  him  and  his 
one  hour  on  the  Sabbath  is  set  an  array  of  evil  forces 
— the  neglectful  Christian  home,  the  godless  home 
with  positive  evil  training,  the  vices  of  the  street  and 
the  evil  companions  who  ensnare  youth,  the  bad 
books  and  papers  in  easy  reach.  He  must  study 
ways  of  counteracting  these  evils.  He  will  need  to 
study  the  art  of  the  trainer  even  more  than  the  art  of 
the  teacher.  Training  is  more  difficult  than  teaching. 
It  is  putting  into  practice  what  is  taught.  It  is  the 
difference  between  planting  the  seed  and  caring  for 
the  plant  until  it  comes  to  maturity.  Teaching  gives 
knowledge  ;  training  makes  character.  And  the 
teacher's  abiding  work  is  along  the  lines  of  training. 

But  above  his  teaching  and  training,  as  his  supreme 
mission,  the  teacher  needs  to  study  the  art  of  soul- 
winning.  It  is  a  divine  art,  and  its  processes  are 
nowhere  so  plainly  set  forth  as  in  the  teacher's  Bible. 
The  lesson  that  is  made  plain  to  the  mind,  but  does 
not  find  its  way  to  the  heart,  is  a  failure.     The  teacher 


What  It  Should  Be  39 

who  has  no  conversions  in  his  class  is  an  anomaly. 
To  save  his  scholars  is  his  one  great  duty,  and  his 
position  gives  him  opportunity  iDeyond  that  of  even 
pastor  or  parent.  Any  teacher-training  system  that 
does  not  include  and  exalt  this  soul-winning  art  is 
unworthy  its  name. 

THE  MODERN  SCHOOL 

Place  a  tallow  candle  at  one  end  of  a  room  and  an 
Edison  electric  lamp  at  the  other,  and  you  have  by 
contrast  the  school  of  Raikes  and  the  modern  Sunday- 
school,  Learning  to  spell  and  read  have  given  place 
to  graded  teaching  and  graded  lessons.  The  unclassi- 
fied room  of  Gloucester  gamins  is  transformed  into 
the  model  Sunday-school  building,  with  departments 
and  class-rooms.  The  four  women,  at  a  shilling  a 
Sabbath,  have  grown  into  millions  of  picked  men  and 
women,  the  "cream  of  the  church,"  as  Mr.  Jacobs 
was  fond  of  saying.  Raikes'  place  as  a  superinten- 
dent is  held  by  Wanamaker,  Pepper,  and  Lawrance. 
What  was  a  "mission  school"  has  become  the  chief 
dependency  of  the  church  for  growth  and  power. 

It  is  in  the  light  of  such  progress,  and  under  such 
increasing  pressure,  that  the  Sunday-school  teacher 
must  do  his  work.  He  is  not  a  mere  spectator.  He 
is  a  vital  part  of  the  complex  machine, — cylinder, 
shaft,  balance-wheel,  or  safety-valve.  The  school's 
frictionless  movement  depends  upon  him,  and  he  in 
turn  depends  upon  the  school.  He  must  know  his 
place  and  keep  it,  or  become  the  "hot  box"  of  hin- 
drance to  life  and  motion.  I  have  known  a  single 
teacher  and  class  to  obstruct  the  entire  machinery 


40  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

of  a  Sunday-school.  The  teacher,  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  is  an  officer  of  the  school.  He  is  an  assistant 
superintendent,  though  not  known  by  that  title.  The 
school  is  his  workshop  and  drill-ground.  His  own 
class  is  but  one  of  the  successive  stages  through  which 
his  scholars  must  pass. 

He  ought  therefore  to  know  what  precedes  and  fol- 
lows him.  He  should  study  the  various  departments, 
their  management  and  methods.  He  should  know  the 
ins  and  the  outs  of  every  approved  modern  method. 
He  should  study  the  art  of  managing  a  school  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  superintendent,  which  differs 
only  in  measure  from  his  own  management  of  a  class. 
He  should  learn  how  to  keep  the  school' s  records  and 
finances,  and  run  its  library  and  Home  Department. 
He  should  study  the  music,  the  literature,  the  pro- 
gram. Especially  he  should  be  a  student  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  Sunday-school  movement,  from  its  crude 
Old  Testament  beginnings  to  its  splendid  modern  de- 
velopment. He  need  not  lack  for  training-books  that 
will  give  him  this  bird's-eye  view  of  the  modern 
Sunday-school.  From  a  score  or  more  of  recent  text- 
books it  would  be  hard  to  say  which  is  best,  but  if  my 
choice  were  restricted  to  one  book  I  would  take 
Axtell's  "Organized  Sunday-school,"  or  McKinney's 
"Bible  School,"  or  Vincent's  "Modern  Sunday- 
school,"  or  Schauffler' s  "  Ways  of  Working. " 

LOYALTY  TO  CHURCH 

I  do  not  place  the  church  last  in  the  elements  of  a 
teacher-training  course  because  it  is  greatest  or  least. 
Logically  it  comes  last,  as  all  our  Sunday-school  ser- 


tV/ia^  It  Should  Be  4t 

vice  should  be  to  exalt  and  magnify  the  church  as 
the  one  divine  institution  in  the  earth.  I  cannot 
sympathize  with  or  understand  a  system  of  teacher- 
training  that  does  not  begin  and  end  in  the  church. 
Nor  can  I  esteem  one  fully  equipped  to  teach  and 
train  the  children  of  the  church  who  is  himself 
untaught  and  untrained  in  its  noble  history  and  doc- 
trine. I  would  as  soon  think  of  training  the  public- 
school  boy  for  citizenship  in  our  republic  without  a 
knowledge  of  the  country  to  which  he  belongs,  and  of 
the  men  who  purchased  our  liberties  by  their  blood. 
One  day  in  Chicago  I  saw  a  crowd  of  boys  silently 
gazing  into  a  shop  window,  oblivious  to  all  sights  and 
scenes  of  a  great  city.  I  followed  their  reverent  look, 
and  I  saw  what  had  fixed  their  eager  eyes.  It  was  a 
small,  tattered,  and  powder-blackened  flag,  and  be- 
neath it  was  the  legend,  '  *  This  flag  was  in  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill."  There  is  a  love  of  church  that  is 
deeper  than  love  of  country,  and  I  would  have  every 
teacher  to  know  and  feel  it,  and  to  inspire  it  in  his 
Sunday-school  class. 

I  have  no  love  for  that  mawkish  sentiment  that  any 
church  is  good  enough,  and  that  "it  makes  no  diff"er- 
ence  to  what  church  one  belongs."  I  have  found 
that  the  men  and  wom.en  who  counted  for  something 
in  faithful,  self-denying  work,  were  those  in  whom 
denominational  love  and  loyalty  were  deep  rooted. 
Although  a  paradox  on  its  face,  I  have  also  found 
that  the  rock-ribbed  denominationalist  was  oftenest  the 
most  catholic  and  helpful  in  any  Christian  fellowship 
or  work.  I  am  sure  that  every  trained  teacher  will 
be  a  better  and  stronger  teacher  if  he  adds  to  his 


42  How  to  Beco77ie  a  Trained  Teacher 

training  equipment  a  knowledge  first  of  the  general 
church  of  Christ  in  all  lands  and  ages,  and  then  t^uilds 
upon  this  a  fuller  knowledge  of  his  own  denomina- 
tion. I  call  to  mind  Hurst's  "Outlines  of  Church 
History,"  a  small  book,  fairly  and  accurately  written, 
which  will  serve  as  a  book  of  study  of  the  general 
church.  The  denominational  history,  each  denomi- 
nation will  provide  for  its  own.  I  beg  pardon  for  a 
personal  reference.  I  was  born  into  a  family  that 
has  been  Methodist  for  six  generations,  my  father  a 
Methodist  preacher.  There  is  nothing  I  love  so 
much  in  all  the  world  as  the  church  of  my  fathers. 
Yet  I  have  never  been  accused  of  narrowness  or  big- 
otry. When  I  am  in  trouble,  and  things  seem  to  go 
hard  against  me,  it  is  my  custom  to  take  down  the 
life  of  Wesley  or  Asbury,  or  some  story  of  the  men 
who  suffered  and  died  for  my  Methodism,  and  in  their 
heroic  presence  I  come  to  myself  again. 


WAYS  OF  DOING  IT 


T 


IV 

WAYS  OF  DOING  IT 

suggestive  training-courses 
An  Elementary  Course. 
IME. — One  to  two  years. 


Term. — October  to  June, — eight  months  each  year. 

Membership. — Sunday-school  officers,  teachers,  and 
chosen  young  people. 

Requirements. — A  written  pledge  to  attend  the  meet- 
ings and  to  study  and  complete  the  course. 

Meetings. — Weekly,  at  an  hour  apart,  or  in  connection 
with  the  teachers' -meeting. 

Plan  of  Study. — The  leader  or  a  committee  apportions 
in  advance  the  subject-matter  of  the  course,  in  weekly  sec- 
tions, for  home  study  by  members. 

The  "Weekly  Program. — The  hour  used  chiefly  in  re- 
view and  drill  upon  the  week's  section,  as  previously  as- 
signed. 

Leader. — The  best  man  or  woman  available,  to  direct, 
but  not  always  to  teach,  the  class. 

Examinations. — As  prescribed  by  the  course  selected, 
or  as  prepared  and  conducted  by  the  leader  upon  completion 
of  a  book,  together  with  frequent  additional  oral  reviews. 

Graduation. — A  special  public  church  service,  with 
address  and  presentation  of  diplomas. 

Course  of  Study. — (Any  books  mentioned  in  these 
chapters  can  be  obtained  of  The  Sunday  School  Times  Co., 
Philadelphia.)  Your  own  church  course,  if  it  has  one  ;  if 
not,  then  any  one  of  the  following  training-courses  :  Pease's 
"Normal  Course  "  (first  and  second  series.    50  cents  each) ; 

45 


46  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

"Assembly  Normal  Union  "  (two  books.  50  cents);  Hurl- 
but's  "Revised  Normal  Lessons"  (40  and  25  cents); 
Semelroth's  "Complete  Manual"  (50  and  25  cents); 
"Legion  of  Honor"  (first  and  second  series.  25  cents); 
Spilman's  "Normal  Studies"  (25  cents). 

An  Advanced  Course. 

Time. — Two  years,  as  a  minimum. 

Term,  Membership,  etc. — As  with  elementary  course 
above. 

Course  of  Study. — Your  own  church  course,  if  it  has 
one  ;  if  not,  a  course  composed  of  five  books, — one  book 
each  upon  the  five  subjects  following  : 

The  Bible. — Dunning's  "Bible  Studies"  (40  and  25 
cents)  ;  or,  Sell's  "Bible  Study  by  Periods"  (60  and  35 
cents)  ;  or,  "  The  Bible  and  its  Books  "  (50  cents). 

The  Scholar. — Miss  Harrison's  "Study  of  Child  Na- 
ture "  (^i)  ;  or,  Du  Bois's  "The  Point  of  Contact  in  Teach- 
ing "  (75  cents)  ;  or,  Schauffler's  "The  Teacher,  the  Child, 
and  the  Book"  (^i)  ;  or,  Wells's  "Sunday-school  Suc- 
cess "  ($1.25)  ;  or,  Trumbull's  "  Hints  on  Child-Training  " 
(^1.25)  ;  or,  Forbush's  "Boy  Problem"  (75  cents). 

The  Teacher. — Gregory's  "Seven  Laws  of  Teaching" 
(50  cents,  net)  ;  or,  Trumbull's  "Teaching  and  Teachers  " 
(^1.25);  or,  Hamill's  "  The  Sunday-school  Teacher  "  (50 
cents). 

The  Sunday-School. — Schauffler's  "Ways  of  Work- 
ing "  (^l)  ;  Vincent's  "  Modern  Sunday-school  "  (90  cents); 
Axtell's  "The  Organized  Sunday-school"  (50  cents); 
McKinney's  "Bible  School"  (50  cents);  Foster's  "Sun- 
day-school Manual"  (75  cents);  Boynton's  "  Model  Sun- 
day-school "  (50  and  30  cents). 

The  Church. — Hurst's  "Outlines  of  Church  History" 
(40  cents),  followed  by  brief  history  of  your  own  denomi- 
nation. 


Ways  of  Doifig  It  47 

Special  Pastor's  Course. 

Hatcher's  "The  Pastor  and  the  Sunday-school"  (75 
cents)  ;  Chapman's  "Spiritual  Life  of  the  Sunday-school" 
(35  cents);  Axtell's  "Organized  Sunday-school"  (50 
cents);  Trumbull's  "  Teachers'-Meetings  "  (30  cents); 
Gregory's  "Seven  Laws  of  Teaching  "  (50  cents,  net). 

CONDUCTING  A  TRAINING-CLASS 

The  touch  of  elbows  in  any  good  work  is  always 
stimulating  and  helpful.  Wherever  it  is  possible, 
therefore,  to  form  a  class,  the  work  will  be  better  and 
surer.  The  choice  of  an  elementary  or  an  advanced 
course,  as  outlined  suggestively  above,  will  depend 
upon  local  conditions.  The  mistake  is  often  made  of 
setting  too  severe  a  standard  at  beginning.  Many 
who  turn  away  from  an  advanced  training-course  will 
return  to  it  after  successfully  completing  an  elemen- 
tary course.  A  desire  for  the  more  thorough  study  is 
begotten  by  the  easier  work.  Especially  is  this  true 
of  the  young  people  who  are  willing  to  be  put  in 
training.  The  pressure  of  time,  the  cost  of  books, 
the  lack  of  the  study  habit,  the  small  ambition  of 
many  of  these,  need  to  be  considered.  The  elemen- 
tary course  is  not  child's  play.  In  any  one  of  the 
elementary  courses  I  have  named  a  good  foundation 
is  laid  in  the  subjects  which  should  constitute  a 
teacher-training  course.  For  my  own  part,  I  would 
advise  any  teacher,  or  one  who  wishes  to  become  a 
teacher,  to  take  the  severer  course.  Its  five  or  more 
books,  patiently  studied  and  assimilated  in  two  years' 
time,  will  assure  success  as  a  Sunday-school  teacher 
to  the  ambitious  student,  though  of  moderate  ability. 


48  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

Several  points  need  to  be  carefully  guarded  in  the  or- 
ganization of  a  training-class.  Much  depends  upon  the 
spirit  and  purpose  of  those  who  compose  it.  Hence 
I  have  suggested  a  written  pledge  to  attend  the  meet- 
ings of  the  class,  and  to  study  and  complete  the 
course.  I  would  admit  none  who  would  not  subscribe 
to  this  pledge.  After  the  novelty  and  enthusiasm  of 
the  first  study  and  rrieetings  have  passed,  as  they  in- 
evitably will,  I  should  need  the  reinforcement  this 
pledge  would  bring.  Better  a  little  handful  \\\\o  ' '  mean 
business,"  than  a  multitude  of  mere  enthusiasts. 

SECRETS  OF  GOOD   LEADERSHIP 

More  than  this  is  the  choice  of  a  leader,  upon 
whom,  in  most  cases,  the  final  success  or  failure  of 
the  class  will  depend.  A  training  expert  is  not  always 
the  best  leader.  Successful  leadership,  I  have  found, 
is  a  matter  of  personal  rather  than  educational  qualifi- 
cation. The  leader  who  has  common  sense,  sympa- 
thy with  others,  watchfulness  to  encourage  the  weak 
and  laggard  student,  and  an  unfailing  purpose  to  hold 
his  class  together  to  the  end,  may  know  Httle  about 
training-books,  but  is  the  kind  of  leader  who  will  suc- 
ceed. Much,  too,  depends  upon  the  regular  weekly 
meeting  of  the  class,  and  the  wise  apportionment  of 
the  subject-matter  of  the  course  of  study. 

In  the  beginning,  the  order  in  which  the  books  are 
to  be  studied,  and  the  time  to  be  given  to  each  book, 
and  the  further  division  of  each  book  into  weekly 
study  sections,  should  be  carefully  planned  and  ex- 
plained. Nothing  should  be  allowed  to  change  or 
cancel  the  regular  meetings  of  the  class.     Either  the 


IVays  of  Doing  It  49 

one  expert  leader  should  conduct  the  weekly  session, 
or,  if  no  one  is  more  expert  than  the  others,  the  mem- 
bers in  turn  may  lead.  As  the  one  purpose  of  the 
weekly  meeting  is  to  review  the  week's  study,  and  to 
test  what  has  been  learned,  however  clumsily  this  may 
be  done,  any  member  of  the  class  is  competent  to  do 
it.  A  review  of  the  salient  points  only  of  the  subject- 
matter  studied,  followed  by  a  spirited  drill  upon  these 
points,  as  written  upon  the  blackboard  and  recited 
over  and  over  by  the  class,  is  a  simple  yet  effective 
method  of  class  leadership. 

As  this  method  proceeds,  the  value  of  class  study 
will  be  shown  in  the  sifting  of  the  subject-matter,  and 
the  determination  of  what  is  or  is  not  important. 
From  time  to  time  the  class  should  be  tested  by  care- 
fully prepared  oral  reviews,  based  upon  questions 
ranging  through  the  book  in  hand,  and  including  its 
salient  matter  only.  I  recall  one  class  whose  mem- 
bers thoroughly  mastered  their  course  of  study  by  the 
use  of  this  very  simple  catechetical  method.  Their 
weekly  meeting  was  nothing  more  than  the  old-fash- 
ioned "cross-questioning,"  back  and  forth,  first  by 
one,  then  by  all.  Again  I  urgently  insist,  as  enforced 
by  the  experience  of  many  years  in  training-work, 
that  it  is  not  upon  expert  leadership  or  method  the 
average  training-class  must  depend.  If  these  are  at 
hand,  use  them  and  be  thankful.  But  there  is  a 
something  which  I  cannot  define,  yet  have  often  seen 
and  admired, — a  rugged  sort  of  independence  and 
purpose,  in  the  home-grown,  necessity-evolved  leader 
and  method,  which  somehow  eclipses  the  finest  work 
of  the  professional  trainer, 


50  How  to  Becoine  a  Trained  Teacher 

I  once  asked  the  secret  of  such  a  leader' s  success. 
He  was  a  hard-working  Western  farmer,  who  had  a 
wonderful  "knack"  of  holding  together  and  getting 
the  best  out  of  his  country  training-classes.  "Oh! 
he' s  just  one  of  us,  — he  knows  us,  and  we  know  him, ' ' 
was  the  reply  I  received.  I  have  found  no  finer 
qualification  for  local  training  leadership  than  that 
country  phrase,  —  "Just  one  of  us." 

TESTING  A  TRAINING-CLASS 

There  is  an  old  maxim  about  the  "proof  of  the 
pudding,"  etc.  I  confess  that  I  have  little  respect  for 
so-called  "  reading  courses  "  for  Sunday-school  teach- 
ers, at  the  end  of  which  there  is  nothing  to  test  thor- 
oughly the  work  that  has  been  done.  A  training- 
course  without  a  thorough  and  comprehensive  written 
examination  to  enforce  this  test  is  like  a  kite  without 
a  tail.  It  may  be  a  good  kite,  but  it  will  not  fly.  I 
never  encourage  a  mere  "reading"  course.  I  have 
found  by  disappointing  experience  how  carelessly  and 
superficially  such  reading  is  often  done.  I  exact 
downright  honest  study  instead  as  the  only  road  to 
success,  whether  in  secular  or  religious  learning. 
There  ought  to  be  nothing  of  the  patent  medicine, 
"quick-cure"  method  in  our  training  work.  For 
years  I  put  at  the  head  of  all  training-books  and  leaflets 
the  admonition,  "Do  not  play  at  normal  work." 
Anything  less  than  hard  study  and  mastery  ot  the 
text  is  a  snare  to  the  student,  and  has  deservedly  in- 
curred the  sharp  censure  of  those  secular  educa- 
tors who  have  a  sincere  concern  for  Sunday-school 
teaching.     There  is  already  too  much  of  the  knowl- 


Ways  of  Doing  It  51 

edge  that  puffeth  up.  I  think  one  reason  for  the 
indifference  towards  teacher  -  training  on  the  part 
of  some  of  our  brighter  pastors  is  their  just  aver- 
sion for  training  schemes  that  make  a  teacher  of 
you  "while  you  wait."  Any  reader  of  these  lines 
who  wants  to  become  a  Sunday-school  teacher  in 
fact  as  well  as  in  name,  but  is  unwilling  to  pay 
the  price  of  hard  study  as  tested  by  a  thorough  ex- 
amination, will  find  nothing  farther  of  interest  in 
these  chapters. 

It  was  a  saying  of  Lord  Bacon  that  "reading  mak- 
eth  a  full  man,  conversation  maketh  the  ready  man, 
but  writing  maketh  the  exact  man."  Upon  the  com- 
pletion of  each  book  of  study,  the  leader  of  the  class, 
or  his  pastor  or  superintendent  in  his  stead,  should 
conduct,  in  writing,  an  examination  sufficiently  com- 
prehensive and  severe  as  to  test  fully  and  fairly  the 
quality  of  the  work  done  by  members  of  the  class. 
Several  hours  should  be  given  to  it,  and  every  allow- 
ance made  for  clumsiness  and  faultiness  of  papers, 
and  every  encouragement  shown  to  any  who  scare  at 
the  ghost  of  an  examination.  But  I  insist  that  in 
these  written  papers  will  be  found  the  final  and  fair 
test  of  whether  the  student  put  mind  and  heart  into 
his  work.  Let  him  understand  that  he  must  earn 
what  he  gets,  if  he  is  to  be  trained  to  respect  himself 
and  his  work  as  a  teacher.  I  have  not  found  that 
this  standard  of  hard  study  and  thorough  testing 
repels.  Wherever  it  does,  repulsion  is  better  than 
attraction,  and  sifts  the  wheat  from  the  tares.  Along 
with  every  batch  of  examination  questions  I  have 
been  sending  out  to  training-classes,  I  have  tried  to 


52  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

guard  the  integrity  of  the  examination  by  some  such 
requirements  as  the  following  : 

1.  These  questions  are  mailed  to  you  directly  as  leader, 
or  as  pastor  or  superintendent  of  an  individual  student. 

2.  Please  see  that  the  questions  are  withheld  until  the 
hour  for  examination,  and  that  the  examination  is  fairly 
conducted,  under  your  immediate  supervision  and  at  one 
sitting.  The  time,  place,  length  of  time  given,  and  all 
other  details,  are  left  to  your  own  discretion. 

3.  Call  all  members  together  ;  read  these  instructions  ; 
urge  each  to  take  the  examination  at  the  one  time  and 
place  fixed,  as  the  questions  are  not  severe,  and  the  stand- 
ard for  diploma  fair  and  reasonable.  Every  examinee, 
upon  completing  his  examination,  should  certify  in  writing 
that  "the  examination  has  been  taken  upon  honor." 
Please  see  that  this  statement  accompanies  each  set  of 
papers  sent. 

GRADUATING  A  TRAINING-CLASS 

As  I  have  urged  a  written  examination  as  a  final 
test  of  study,  so  I  urge  the  public  recognition  of  those 
who  have  proved  faithful  students.  If  the  test  of 
study  discloses  conscientiousness  and  thoroughness  of 
work  by  the  student,  he  should  be  accounted  worthy 
of  every  honor,  local  or  general,  that  can  be  con- 
ferred. While  the  training  diploma  is  not  the  end  in 
view,  it  should  signalize  the  end  of  the  training-course. 
It  is  the  concrete  objective,  and  will  do  much  to  hold 
the  class  together  and  assure  a  better  quality  of  study. 
It  gives  dignity  to  the  training  work,  and  calls  public 
attention  to  its  importance.  I  do  not  count  it  a  weak- 
ness in  men  or  women  to  covet  the  honors  they  have 
fairly  won.     The  desire  for  honorable  recognition  is  a 


Ways  of  Doing  It  53 

weakness  to  which  most  of  us  are  liable — if  it  is  a 
weakness.  The  Bible  allows  for  it.  Paul  and  Peter, 
and  other  apostles  and  good  men,  were  not  above  it. 
Our  Lord,  as  he  tells  us  in  one  of  his  parables,  holds 
in  reserve  a  word  of  public  recognition  that  I  trust  all 
of  us  at  the  last  may  hear,  each  for  himself:  "Well 
done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant." 

I  have  had  the  privilege  thus  far  of  signing  more 
than  five  thousand  training  diplomas,  and  of  present- 
ing very  many  of  them  in  person  to  the  hard-working 
Sunday-school  people  who  had  earned  them.  In  the 
West  and  South,  and  in  Canada  especially,  this  clos- 
ing service  of  public  recognition  has  proved  a  strong 
and  needed  stimulus  to  the  work.  In  Illinois,  year 
after  year,  the  one  great  hour  of  the  annual  Sunday- 
school  Convention  is  that  devoted  to  honoring  its 
host  of  teacher-training  graduates.  No  expense  is 
spared,  no  device  is  unused,  and  the  great  audience 
is  always  at  its  greatest  and  best  when  that  hour 
occurs.  In  my  present  field  I  am  setting  the  gradu- 
ates of  my  church  in  the  finest  place  of  honor  I  can 
contrive  upon  the  platform  of  Annual  Conferences, 
before  the  chief  dignitaries  of  the  church,  and  am 
putting  their  names  upon  the  "Roll  of  Honor"  in 
all  its  Sunday-school  literature. 

Most,  if  not  all,  of  the  training-courses  I  have  named 
in  this  chapter  provide  diplomas  for  their  graduates, — 
the  Assembly  Normal  Union,  the  Pease,  the  Semel- 
roth,  the  Hurlbut,  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  others. 
Several  of  the  churches  have  their  own  training- 
courses  and  diplomas,  which  every  loyal  churchman 
should  first  consider.      More  than  a  score  of  the  inter- 


54  How  to  Becoine  a  Trained  Teacher 

denominational,  state,  and  provincial  Sunday-school 
associations  award  their  own  diplomas  to  graduates  of 
association  courses.  Diplomas,  general  in  form  and 
adaptable  to  local  conditions,  may  also  be  procured. 

At  its  Winona,  Indiana,  meeting,  in  August,  1903, 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  International  Sunday- 
School  Convention  appointed  a  "Committee  on  Edu- 
cation," composed  of  seven  college  and  Sunday- 
school  men,  who  were  instructed  to  formulate  "stand- 
ards and  rules  governing  the  issuance  of  an  Inter- 
national Sunday-schoolteachers'  diploma,"  for  use 
throughout  the  entire  continent.  Of  the  seven  men 
of  the  committee  it  is  worth  noting,  as  a  sign  of  the 
advance  of  teacher-training  in  the  church,  that  three 
of  its  members  are  President  W.  O.  Thompson,  of 
the  Ohio  State  University  ;  President  E.  Y.  Mullins, 
D.D.,  of  the  Southern  Bapdst  Theological  Seminary, 
and  Dr.  S.  F.  Upham,  of  Drew  Theological  Seminary. 
In  the  next  chapter  the  reader  will  find  a  brief  state- 
ment of  what  this  committee  has  already  done. 

Whatever  the  diploma  that  marks  the  end  of  the 
course,  it  should  be  awarded  with  every  accessory  of 
honor.  In  the  local  church  chosen  by  the  class,  on 
Sunday  evening  preferably,  as  a  special  service,  the 
graduation  of  the  class  should  be  observed.  The 
pastor  or  pastors  of  the  graduates  should  "lay  them- 
selves out"  to  make  it  an  occasion  of  peculiar  interest 
and  profit.  It  should  be  thoroughly  advertised  in 
every  paper  and  home  in  the  community.  The  fair- 
est flowers  and  the  brightest  music  should  enhance  it. 
The  graduates,  the  elect  pastors  and  superintendents, 
and  the    officers   of  the  church,   should   occupy   the 


Ways  of  Doing  It  55 

place  of  honor  upon  the  platform.  The  finest  address 
that  some  pastor  or  speaker  of  ability  can  deliver 
should  be  the  feature  of  the  evening.  The  award  of 
diplomas  should  be  made  as  impressive  as  possible, 
and  the  occasion  generally  should  prove  an  impetus 
to  local  Sunday-school  work.  I  am  not  dealing  with 
the  theoretical.  I  know  what  these  occasions  may 
do.  I  have  had  the  honor  to  take  part  in  more  than 
a  hundred  of  them  within  the  last  ten  years.  May 
their  number  and  their  influence  for  untold  good  in- 
crease ! 

Here  is  a  souvenir  program  of  such  a  graduating 
service.  The  paper  is  growing  yellow,  and  the  lines 
are  fading  out,  but  I  specially  cherish  it  as  a  token  of 
the  first  service  in  which  I  presented  diplomas  to  a 
teacher-training  class.  Behind  the  fading  names  a 
host  of  tender  memories  arise  of  the  faithful  leader 
and  class  of  that  Southern  Illinois  town  : 

LEGION  OF  HONOR  GRADUATING  EXERCISES 
Methodist  Church,  Carmi,  Illinois,  January  15,  1891 

Program 
Duet  :   "The  Light  of  the  World,"   Mrs.  A.  A.    Lehman 

and  M.  W.  Spencer, 
Bible  Reading  :  Thomas  Parkhurst. 
Song:   "Coronation,"   congregation. 
Prayer  :  Rev.  J.  G.  Dee. 

Theme  :  The  Bible. 
A  Book  for  Every  One  :  Miss  Florence  Emerson 
Duet:    "Lamp  of  Life,"  Miss  Annie  Tate  and   W.    J. 

Blackard. 
Its  Literature  :  Miss  Mae  E.  Dunlevy. 
Its  Teachings  :  D.  L.  Boyd. 


56  How  to  Beco7ne  a  Traiiied  Teacher 

Song  :   "  Wonderful  Words,"  by  normal  class. 

Its  Authenticity  :  Miss  Ina  Anderson. 

Its  Inspiration  :  Mrs.  Ira  Reeves. 

Song  :   "  Walk  in  the  Light,"  by  normal  class. 

Address  :    Rev.    H.    M.   Hamill,    followed    by  award   of 

diplomas  to  class  of  twenty  graduates. 
Song  :   "  Here  am  I,  send  me,"  congregation. 

DOXOLOGY  AND  BENEDICTION. 

A  HOME-GROWN  VETERAN  TRAINER 

Mr.  George  P.  Perry  is  a  successful  druggist  of 
Sterling,  Illinois,  and  a  Baptist  in  good  standing.  He 
is  of  the  "  home-grown  "  variety,  with  a  pronounced 
Western  flavor.  There  proved  to  be  much  more  in 
him  than  his  friends  or  myself  had  discovered. 
Never  a  college  or  seminary  man,  he  invented  a 
unique  and  most  helpful  objective  study  of  the 
"Life  of  Christ,"  v^^iich  has  gone  round  the  world. 
For  many  years,  though  yet  a  young  man,  this 
veteran  organizer  and  conductor  of  training-classes 
has  been  modestly  making  fame  for  his  little  city. 
There  is  nothing  phenomenal  about  the  man  or 
his  methods.  He  has  those  three  homespun  quali- 
ties of  the  American  proverb,  —  "grace,  grit,  gump- 
tion." He  is  a  fair  illustration  of  the  possibilities  in 
thousands  of  men  and  women,  who  could  match  his 
achievements  if  they  w^ould.  I  wrote  asking  him  to  sum- 
marize his  teacher-training  work.  I  have  his  modest 
reply,  from  which  I  extract  the  more  pertinent  facts. 

Sterling,  III.,  October  19,  1903. 
Dear  Dr.  Hamill  :— 

I  began  my  teacher-training  work  here  in  1885.  For 
months  before  I  conducted  a  campaign  of  agitation  on  the 
subject   in    township   conventions   and   by   personal   contact. 


IVays  of  Doing  It  ^y 

Since  that  time  no  year  has  passed  without  systematic  teacher- 
training.  My  classes  have  almost  always  been  composed  of 
members  from  various  denominations.  My  method  of  con- 
ducting the  class  is  to  assign  a  lesson  in  advance  for  study, 
then,  by  question  and  blackboard  and  illustration,  teach  it  as 
best  I  can.  I  have  never  organized  a  class  but  it  finished  the 
course  of  lessons.  I  have  used  a  number  of  series  of  teacher- 
training  courses, — the  "  Assembly  Normal  Union,"  Dunning's 
"  Bible  Studies,"  Hurlbut's  "  Normal  Outlines,"  the  "  Legion 
of  Honor,"  etc.  I  can  go  into  nearly  any  school  in  the  city 
and  pick  out  my  pupils  as  part  of  the  school's  teaching  force, 
many  of  whom  have  assured  me  of  great  good  derived  from 
the  course  they  studied.  Usually  I  begin  my  classes  in  Octo- 
ber, and  continue  through  April,  the  number  of  meetings 
ranging  from  twenty  to  twenty-eight.  I  am  now  conducting 
my  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  classes.  My  total  enrolment  of 
students  to  date  is  five  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  average 
attendance  two  hundred  and  ninety-five,  and  the  number  com- 
pleting a  course  by  written  examination  and  receiving  diplo- 
mas is  one  hundred  and  sixty-one  (including  the  probable 
graduates  of  my  present  classes). 

Sincerely, 

George  P.  Perry. 

I  shall  not  paint  the  lily  nor  adorn   the  rose  by 
comment  upon  that  letter. 


TEACHER-TRAINING  AGENCIES 


V 
TEACHER-TRAINING  AGENCIES 

BY   THE   TEACHERS' -  MEETING 

I  AM  mindful  of  my  promise.  It  was  to  the  effect 
that  a  variety  of  ways  would  be  suggested,  by 
some  one  of  which  any  teacher  might  secure  the 
training  desired.  I  know  nothing  better  to  begin 
with  than  the  teachers'  -meeting.  Wherever  and  what- 
ever the  Sunday-school,  the  teachers' -meeting  is 
indispensable.  It  stands  first  in  any  catalog  of 
teacher-training  agencies,  because  the  weekly  lesson 
must  be  studied,  and  the  one  place  for  its  most  effec- 
tive study  is  in  this  meeting  of  teachers.  I  might  go 
farther,  and  say  that,  when  a  school  holds  regularly 
and  faithfully  its  meeting  of  teachers,  it  has  already 
taken  a  long  step  in  the  direction  of  teacher-training. 
But  it  needs  to  take  another  step.  It  should  add 
to  its  weekly  lesson  study  a  course  of  specific  teacher- 
training.  To  do  this  would  double  its  interest  and 
usefulness,  and  would  do  away  with  the  popular  ex- 
cuse that  busy  teachers  have  not  the  time  for  both 
teachers' -meeting  and  training-class.  Let  the  two 
be  made  into  one,  as  both  are  closely  related  and 
interdependent.  One  cannot  study  the  lesson  with 
others  without  getting  a  measure  of  training,  nor  can 
one  study  a  training-course  without  learning  how  better 
to  study  and  teach  the  lesson.  I  can  see  how  teacher- 
training   work  might   become    at  once  a  feature  of 

6i 


62  Hoiv  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

thousands  of  Sunday-schools,  if  pastors  and  superin- 
tendents would  readjust  their  teachers' -meetings  to 
the  double  end  of  lesson  study  and  teacher-training. 
Let  any  one  of  the  approved  elementary  training- 
courses  be  selected,  if  there  is  no  prescribed  denomi- 
national course  ;  or,  from  the  list  of  training  books 
given  in  these  articles  let  a  special  course  be  chosen, 
and  for  a  year  of  pledged  attendance  and  study  let  the 
following  weekly  program  be  enacted  : 

Teachers'-Meeting  Program 

Time  :  Eighty  minutes. 

Place  :  The  cosiest  church  room. 

Leader  :  The  superintendent  or  pastor,  or  both. 

Members  :  The  ofificers  and  teachers  and  young  people  of 
the  "teacher-supply  class." 

Meetings  :  Monday  evening. 

Pledge  :  To  attend  and  study  both  lesson-  and  training- 
course  for  one  year. 

Program  :  Ten  minutes'  prayer-meeting  ;  ten  minutes  as  a 
council  upon  the  school  ;  thirty  minutes'  lesson  study  ;  thirty 
minutes  training-study. 

THE   TEACHERS'    CLASS 

I  have  suggested  the  use  of  the  teachers' -meeting  in 
a  training  way  as  an  easy  initiative.  From  the  best 
estimates  at  hand,  about  one-fourth  of  our  Sunday- 
schools  already  conduct  these  weekly  meetings  of  their 
teachers,  and  have  therefore  a  convenient  time, 
place,  and  opportunity  for  beginning  a  teacher-train- 
ing work.  But  I  urge  it  as  a  compromise  at  best. 
There  are  many  Sunday-schools  whose  officers  and 
teachers  are  willing  and  ready  for  independent  and 


Teacher-  Training  Agencies  63 

specific  teacher-training.  To  these  the  teachers' - 
meeting,  if  one  is  held,  is  a  place  for  lesson  study 
only.  Their  desire  is  for  a  distinct  course  of  teacher- 
training,  apart  from  all  other  meetings,  after  a  plan 
and  under  a  leader  of  their  own,  with  the  one  set  pur- 
pose of  becoming  trained  teachers.  I  sincerely  sym- 
pathize with  this  desire  for  independent  study.  The 
end  to  be  attained  is  worth  the  additional  effort,  and 
even  the  teachers'  -meeting  is  subordinate  to  the  train- 
ing-class. Both  are  practicable  in  the  same  school, 
the  membership  of  both  being  substantially  the  same. 
It  is  simply  a  question  whether  the  teacher,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  hour  given  weekly  to  the  teachers'  -meeting, 
is  willing  to  add  an  hour  each  week  for  the  study  of  a 
training-course.  With  such  direct  and  exclusive  pur- 
pose in  view,  it  is  easy  to  frame  a  program  for  train- 
ing-work : 

The  Teachers'  Training-Class 

Members  :  The  teachers,  officers,  and  pastor. 

Time  :  Any  convenient  hour  each  week. 

Place  :  The  pastor's  study  or  church  parlor. 

Leader  :  Elected  by  class  or  appointed  by  superintendent 
and  pastor. 

Course  of  study  :  Denominational  or  selected, — two  years. 

Condition  :  Pledged  members  only. 

Program  :  Review  of  previous  study,  led  by  members  alter- 
nately, fifteen  minutes  ;  blackboard  drill  upon  main  points  of 
the  week's  study,  by  class  leader,  thirty  minutes  ;  discussion 
by  class,  fifteen  minutes. 

I  have  at  hand  the  report  of  such  a  class.  It  comes 
from  the  Bethel  Sunday-school  of  old  Charleston. 
*'Dux  fcniitia  acti,'' — which  is  Virgil's  way  of  saying 


64  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

that  a  woman  was  the  moving  spirit  in  it.  It  is  one 
of  the  teachers'  classes  in  my  charge  of  which  I  am 
especially  proud,  and  I  shall  not,  therefore,  introduce 
it  apologetically.  I  wrote  to  the  leader,  asking  a 
matter-of-fact  statement  of  the  ups  and  downs  of  the 
class,  that  I  might  use  it,  if  desired,  in  print.  Here 
is  the  reply  : 

Charleston,  S.  C,  October  16,  1903. 
Dear  Sir  : 

I  disclaim  credit  for  the  success  of  our  train- 
ing "Circle  No.  369."  Our  pastor,  the  Rev.  E.  O.  Watson, 
has  been  virtually  our  leader  in  conducting  the  meetings  of  the 
Circle.  He  first  called  the  notice  of  the  teachers  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  teacher-training  department  of  our  church.  He 
explained  its  organization  and  purpose,  and  called  for  the 
names  of  those  who  would  enter  upon  the  work.  Thirteen 
responded.  I  was  elected  leader.  From  the  roll  of  the  teach- 
ers of  the  school,  by  personal  appeal,  I  added  five  more  mem- 
bers. We  had  our  difficulties.  Some  were  skeptical  as  to  this 
new  movement  ;  some  were  elderly  people  who  had  not  kept 
in  touch  with  the  educational  progress  of  our  day  ;  some  were 
unaccustomed  to  study  ;  and  others,  after  beginning,  were  in- 
clined to  drop  out.  We  had  extremes  as  to  age,  and  I  was 
embarrassed  by  the  fact  that  the  older  teachers  had  known  me 
from  infancy,  and  one  had  been  my  teacher.  As  to  how  these 
and  other  difficulties  were  met  and  overcome,  I  can  put  it  in  a 
single  sentence, — by  persistently  and  patiently  keeping  at  it. 
At  our  meetings  I  would  carefully  watch  the  various  members, 
then  would  privately  manage  to  give  to  the  discouraged  a  word 
of  cheer.  With  those  who  seemed  indifferent  I  would  en- 
thusiastically enlarge  upon  the  great  opportunity  our  church 
was  affording  us  for  preparation  in  the  great  work  we  had  un- 
dertaken as  teachers.  I  used  all  the  tact  I  had,  and  kept  at  it 
at  every  opportunity.  I  would  tell  them  how  I  had  studied 
the  course,  what  notes  I  had  taken,  and  how  I  tested  my  work. 
I  began  with  eighteen  members.  Fifteen  will  receive  the  full- 
course  diploma  of  our  church,  and  the  remaining  members  are 


Teacher-  Trainmg  Agencies  65 

yet  at  work  on  the  first-year  course.  I  lost  one  member  only, 
— by  removal.  Most  of  our  members  are  self-supporting,  and 
find  it  therefore  difficult  to  meet  at  night,  as  we  were  com- 
pelled to  do.  I  was  much  encouraged  by  the  enthusiasm  of 
some  of  our  members,  by  the  timely  encouragement  and  notice 
of  us  given  in  our  Teachers'  Magazine,  and  by  the  fact  that 
the  pastor,  who  is  a  born  leader,  used  our  "  Bible  studies  "  as 
the  basis  of  his  prayer-meeting  talks.  All  our  work  was  free, 
hearty,  informal,  and  conversational.  What  I  did  was  with 
the  individual  members,  privately  encouraging  and  persuading 
them.  I  believed  in  the  movement  with  all  my  heart,  and 
tried  to  present  it  to  the  others  as  I  saw  it. 

(Miss)  Mary  E.  Hamlin. 

THE   CLASS    IN    THE   SCHOOL 

If  I  have  a  training  "  hobby,"  it  is  this, — a  class  of 
picked  young  people  in  every  Sunday-school  in  train- 
ing to  teach.  All  else,  in  its  last  analysis,  is  a  mere 
make-shift  in  solving  the  vital  problem  of  teacher- 
training  as  it  now  confronts  the  church.  The  utiliza- 
tion of  the  teachers' -meeting  is  good  if  there  is 
nothing  else  at  hand  ;  the  formation  of  a  distinct  and 
independent  teachers'  trainmg-class  is  better  ;  but 
the  class  of  young  people  in  the  Sunday-school  under 
training  to  become  the  future  teachers  of  the  school 
is  by  all  tokens  the  very  best.  It  is  the  one  way  to 
"grow  a  crop  of  teachers."  Teachers' -meetings 
come  and  go,  and  ebb  and  flow.  Teachers'  -  classes 
at  best  mend  existing  methods  of  teaching.  The 
class  in  the  school  strikes  at  the  root  of  the  church' s 
need.  All  other  methods  are  reformative  ;  this  is 
essentially  formative.  My  old  friend  in  Illinois.  Dr. 
C.  C.  Miller,  used  to  cut  across  my  oft-repeated  pleas 
for  temporary  training  expedients  with  the  curt  ques- 


66  Hoiv  to  Become  a  Tj-ained  Teacher 

tion,  "Why  don't  you  aim  directly  at  the  bull's-eye? 
You  are  not  hitting  it  with  these  devices."  I  knew 
my  critic  was  right,  though  I  was  doing  the  best  I 
could  under  adverse  conditions.  I  must  go  the  same 
round  of  devices  and  expedients  now,  but  I  realize 
more  than  ever  that  the  one  sure  and  satisfactory 
solution  of  teacher-training  is  for  every  church  to  put 
into  its  every  Sunday-school  in  patient  training  a  class 
of  young  people  who  shall  be  made  ready  to  teach. 

1  wish  I  could  impart  some  of  the  unbounded  con- 
fidence 1  have  in  this  method  to  the  pastors  and  su- 
perintendents who  may  care  to  read  these  lines. 
Already  I  am  finding  that  it  is  the  one  solvent  of  most 
of  the  difficulties  in  my  way  as  a  trainer  of  teachers. 
There  is  an  enthusiasm,  a  docility,  often  a  holy  zeal, 
in  youth,  that  compensates  for  all  other  defects.  My 
mail  brings  me  frequently  nowadays  the  cheering  in- 
telligence that,  while  little  could  be  done  here  and 
there  to  arouse  the  teachers,  a  company  of  ambitious 
young  souls  have  banded  together  in  the  Sunday-school 
hour,  and  have  begun  the  study  of  my  church' s  train- 
ing course.  A  chairman  of  a  state  board  of  public- 
school  examiners  saw  his  opportunity,  got  together 
some  young  people  in  his  Sunday-school,  and  is  my 
latest  correspondent  and  comforter.  In  a  Sunday  or 
two  I  am  to  visit,  on  invitation,  a  big  school  of  several 
hundreds  in  which  the  teacher-training  work  has 
dragged  heavily  among  its  fifty  or  more  teachers  ;  and 
the  purpose  of  my  visit  is  to  set  in  motion  a  training- 
class  of  twenty  picked  young  women  who  are  eager 
to  enter  upon  their  two  years'  course.  Years  ago  I 
got  my  first  inspiration  along  this  line  from  a  Western 


Teacher-  Training  Agencies  67 

college  president,  now  grown  famous,  and  his  super- 
intendent, now  governor  of  a  great  state,  who  jointly 
entered  upon  the  experiment  of  growing  their  own 
crop  of  Sunday-school  teachers  from  the  devoted 
young  people  of  the  school.  I  wish  I  had  time  and 
space  to  tell  how  they  did  it,  and  how  much  life  and 
vim  it  finally  put  into  their  school.  Their  "gallery 
training-class,"  with  outlines  on  manilla  paper  and 
rapid-lire  drills,  and  the  pride  of  its  graduates  as  they 
came  to  the  end  of  a  long  hard  course,  before  a  great 
congregation,  is  a  memory  that  stirs  my  heart.  Here 
is  a  suggestive  program  for  such  a  class  : 

Young  People's  Training-Class 

Time  :  The  regular  Sunday-school  hour. 

Place:  A  separate  room,  the  "gallery,"  or  a  convenient 
corner. 

Membership  :  Any  number  of  picked  young  people  who 
"  mean  business." 

Pledge  :  To  study  and  complete  the  course,  and  then  to 
serve  as  teachers. 

Leader  :  The  best  available.     The  pastor,  if  he  must  teach. 

Traming-Course  :  Either  elementary  or  advanced.  To  take 
the  place  of  the  regular  lesson  study.  A  two  years'  course, 
with  graduation  and  diploma. 

THE    INDIVIDUAL   STUDENT 

I  come  back  at  the  last  to  the  individual  student. 
Until  the  various  denominations  erect  severally  their 
training-courses,  or  the  interdenominational  associa- 
tions include  all  candidates  for  teaching  in  their  train- 
ing-classes, the  individual  student  must  have  a  way 
provided  specially  for  him.  Even  after  all  church 
and   general  training  agencies  are  in  operation  there 


68  Hoiv  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

will  be  many  who  have  not  access  to  training-classes, 
or  who  prefer  to  do  their  training-study  individually. 
Heretofore  the  individual  student  has  been  at  a  dis- 
advantage. From  the  many  training-courses  and 
books  issuing  from  the  publishers  he  knew  not  which 
to  choose.  Apart  from  the  few  distinct  church  or 
associated  courses  there  was  no  official  stamp  of  rec- 
ognition or  authority  upon  them.  The  teacher-train- 
ing movement  generally  has  been  crude  and  chaotic, 
and  needed  classification  and  unification,  to  the  end 
that  one  who  was  seeking  a  way  to  self-training  as  a 
Sunday-school  teacher  might  have  competent  lead- 
ership and  counsel  in  finding  his  way. 

Precisely  what  was  needed  has  been  done.  In 
the  fall  of  1903  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
International  Sunday-School  Convention,  recognizing 
the  fast-increasing  demands  of  a  great  field  for  guid- 
ance along  the  lines  of  teacher-training,  appointed  a 
"Committee  on  Education,"  clothed  with  plenary 
power  to  help  in  the  solution  of  all  training  problems. 
In  the  city  of  Louisville,  December  16  and  17,  1903, 
the  committee  held  its  first  session,  and  has  issued 
its  first  address,  which  deals  chiefly,  if  not  exclu- 
sively, with  the  problem  of  teacher-training.  It  has 
"cleared  off  the  brush,"  not  only  for  the  individual 
student,  but  for  very  many  training-classes.  As  its 
thoroughly  efficient  helper  in  the  field,  its  plans  will 
be  carried  out  by  Mr.  W.  C.  Pearce,  of  Chicago,  as 
' '  International  Secretary  of  Teacher-Training. ' '  Mr. 
Pearce  received  his  training  in  Illinois,  the  avatit- 
courier  among  great  associations  in  teacher-training. 
He  afterwards  accomplished  a  great  training  work  in 


Teacher-  Training  Agencies  69 

the  city  of  Chicago  as  its  Sunday-school  secretary.  It 
will  be  his  duty  and  pleasure  to  assist  all  who  desire 
assistance  in  opening  up  a  way  towards  teacher- 
training. 

The  Committee  on  Education  has  already  done  its 
work  of  classification  and  unification,  as  its  initial 
report  will  show.  It  has  given  "  recognition"  to  the 
elementary  training-courses  now  in  use.  It  is  fixing 
the  standards  for  an  advanced  training-course.  It  is 
preparing  to  issue,  through  the  secretary  of  teacher- 
training,  its  elementary  and  advanced  diplomas  to  all 
teacher-training  classes  and  students  who  meet  the 
requirements  of  the  several  recognized  courses  of 
study  and  the  standards  of  the  Committee.  It  will 
ask  and  urge  all  publishers  of  teachers'  periodical 
helps  to  erect  a  teacher-training  department  for  ex- 
plaining, encouraging,  and  instituting  teacher-training 
agencies  throughout  the  field,  denominationally  and 
interdenominationally.  Let  the  individual  student, 
and  all  others  concerned  as  to  teacher-training,  read 
the  action  of  the  Committee  as  contained  in  its  official 
paper  now  before  the  public,  and  he  will  see  that  a 
long  step  has  been  taken  towards  solving  the  problem 
of  Sunday-school  teacher-training. 


INTERDENOMINATIONAL  AND 
DENOMINATIONAL  WORK 


VI 


INTERDENOMINATIONAL  AND 
DENOMINATIONAL  WORK 

THE  CHAUTAUQUA  IDEA 

ON  A  Tuesday  evening,  August  4,  1874,  at  Chau- 
tauqua Lake  campground,  New  York,  the  first 
Chautauqua  Assembly  was  convened,  with  John  H. 
Vincent  as  Superintendent  of  Instruction.  It  was 
exclusively  a  "Sunday-school  institute  protracted  to 
the  length  of  two  weeks."  It  was  a  great  occasion 
and  a  great  opportunity.  Twenty-five  states  and  all 
leading  Protestant  denominations  were  represented. 
But  this  was  its  one  year  of  exclusive  teacher-training. 
The  original  idea  was  expanded  to  include  all  forms 
of  instruction,  secular  and  religious. 

The  first  Chautauqua,  although  it  long  ago  removed 
its  ancient  landmarks  and  has  become  the  Chautau- 
qua University,  in  its  earlier  years  was  the  pioneer  in 
teacher-training,  and  its  "Normal  Union"  blazed 
the  way  for  other  movements,  denominational  and  in- 
terdenominational. A  few  of  the  hundred  or  more 
American  Chautauquas  continue  to  hold  in  honor  the 
old  idea  of  helping  the  Sunday-school  teacher,  nota- 
bly among  these  the  mother  Chautauqua  in  the  East, 
and  the  Winona  Assembly  in  the  West ;  but  with 
most  of  them  it  is  within  bounds  to  say  that  teacher- 
training  is  a  mere  incident,  and  that  the  ratio  of  their 
expenditure  for  popular  entertainment  to  their  expen- 

73 


74  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

diture  for  teacher-training  is  a  hundred  dollars  to  one. 
The  change  has  not  come  from  lack  of  appreciation 
or  patronage  of  Sunday-school  workers,  but  chiefly 
from  considerations  of  a  commercial  nature.  Popular 
entertainment  is  a  better  dividend  payer,  and  teacher- 
training,  so  far  as  related  to  the  average  present- 
day  Chautauqua,  is  practically  a  lost  opportunity. 

THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  ASSOCIATION  IDEA 

Within  fifteen  years  the  teacher-training  movement 
largely  passed  from  the  Chautauqua  to  the  inter- 
denominational Sunday-school  Association.  An  inci- 
dent to  the  former,  it  is  now  the  chief  concern  of  the 
latter,  as  it  is  changing  from  formative  to  educational 
conditions.  To  these  associations  is  largely  due  the 
credit  of  the  present  widespread  revival  of  interest  in 
teacher-training.  What  the  Chautauquas  failed  to  do 
these  are  doing  in  ail  parts  of  the  great  International 
Sunday-school  field.  Of  the  fifty  or  more  associa- 
tions of  the  United  States  and  Canada — state,  provin- 
cial, and  territorial — most  of  them  have  instituted 
teacher-training  departments  and  courses  of  study. 
The  number  of  their  enrolled  students  runs  up  into 
tens  of  thousands,  and  their  graduates  are  to  be 
counted  by  the  thousands.  One  state  has  an  "Alumni 
Association  "  of  more  than  three  thousand  graduates. 
By  a  few  of  these  associations  training  speciaHsts 
have  been  employed,  and  departments  thoroughly 
and  systematically  maintained.  In  all  of  them,  so  far, 
the  courses  of  study  operated  are  substantially  ele- 
mentary, and  the  standards  of  study  and  recognition 
are  generally  lax. 


Interdenominational  aiid  Denominational       75 

Yet  despite  the  chaotic  conditions  under  which  the 
work  has  largely  been  done,  together  with  faulty 
methods  and  incapable  leadership,  a  great  and  wide- 
spread teacher-training  work  has  been  quietly  done. 
Noting  this  fact,  and  yielding  to  the  insistent  appeals 
of  Sunday-school  leaders  for  a  more  clearly  defined 
and  unified  system  of  teacher- training,  a  "Committee 
on  Educadon "  and  an  International  secretary  of 
teacher-training  were  appointed  in  1903  by  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  the  International  Sunday-school 
Convention,  to  whom  the  matter  of  teacher-training 
was  specially  committed.  At  the  first  session  of  the 
committee,  held  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  December 
16  and  17,  1903,  the  entire  field  of  teacher- training 
was  reviewed  and  considered  ;  reports  from  Secretary 
Pearce  were  received  ;  a  uniform  standard  for  elemen- 
tary study  and  graduation  was  erected,  and  an  ele- 
mentary International  diploma  provided  for  future 
graduates  ;  a  committee  was  appointed  to  fix  the 
standards  for  an  advanced  courseof  study  and  diploma, 
and  a  list  of  associations  now  doing  satisfactory  ele- 
mentary work  was  formally  approved.  This  list  of 
associations,  together  with  other  acdon  by  the  com- 
mittee, has  been  made  public  in  the  formal  "Ad- 
dress" of  the  Committee  on  Education,  copies  of 
which  may  be  procured  from  Secretary  W.  C.  Pearce, 
132  La  Salle  Street,  Chicago.  Mr.  Pearce  has  already 
entered  fully  and  enthusiastically  upon  his  great  work. 
Trained  in  Illinois  under  the  eyes  of  the  two  Jacobses, 
later  doing  a  great  teacher- training  work  in  Chicago, 
he  comes  thoroughly  equipped  into  his  difficult  and 
responsible  position,  and  will  heartily  serve  the  thou- 


76  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

sands  of  teachers  and  young  people  who  are  seeking 
a  way  to  become  the  trained  workers  of  the  great 
International  field. 

Of  the  twenty-six  associations  whose  training  plans 
and  courses  of  study  were  officially  "approved"  by 
the  Committee  on  Education,  Illinois  is  easily  fore- 
most, as  it  was  first  in  the  teacher-training  field.  Its 
normal  department  was  organized  in  1888,  and  its 
success  has  largely  been  due  to  the  insistence  of 
General  Secretary  W.  B.  Jacobs  and  the  thoroughness 
of  institute  work  in  all  the  counties  of  the  state.  Its 
graduates  now  number  3, 333.  Ohio,  under  Colonel 
Robert  Cowden,  a  veteran  teacher  trainer  ;  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Massachusetts  in  the  East  ;  Kansas,  Iowa, 
and  Michigan  in  the  Middle  West  ;  Kentucky  in  the 
South  ;  Califcrniainthe  Far  West ;  Nova  Scotia,  New 
Brunswick,  Ontario,  and  Manitoba  in  Canada, — take 
rank  next  to  Illinois  in  their  years  of  teacher-training 
service,  the  thoroughness  of  their  plans  of  work,  and 
the  numbers  who  have  received  recognition  as  gradu- 
ates from  their  respective  departments.  Although  the 
movement  among  the  associations  ebbs  and  flows  in 
interest  and  power,  under  changing  leadership,  yet 
year  by  year  the  writer  has  noted  how  more  and  more 
deeply  it  has  rooted  itself  as  an  integral  and  vital  part 
of  the  finest  interdenominational  Sunday-school  work. 

THE  CITY  TRAINING  INSTITUTE 

More  than  a  score  of  the  greater  American  cities 
within  ten  years  have  successfully  conducted  extensive 
campaigns  of  house-to-house  visitation.  Some  of 
these  campaigns  were  remarkable  for  the  skill  with 


Interdenominatiojial  mid  Denominational       77 

which  they  were  phmned  and  conducted,  and  for  the 
results  achieved.  They  gave  conchisive  proof  of  the 
practicability  of  uniting  the  entire  religious  forces  of 
a  great  city  into  one  great  movement.  Very  few  of 
these  cities  as  yet  have  entered  the  training -field, 
although  the  city  has  conditions  peculiarly  favorable 
to  the  maintenance  of  teacher- training  plans.  Its 
compact  populadon,  material  facilities,  its  massing  of 
religious  and  educational  leadership,  especially  the 
readiness  and  spirit  of  its  workers  and  the  usually  ad- 
vanced state  of  its  Sunday-school  work,  should  open 
a  way  to  the  establishment  in  every  city  of  a  perma- 
nent teacher-training  institute. 

From  the  signs  about  me  I  venture  the  opinion  that 
this  will  be  the  next  step  in  Sunday-school  progress. 
Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  has  for  several 
years  been  the  headquarters  of  the  American  Society 
of  Religious  Educadon,  under  the  direction  of  J.  E. 
Gilbert,  D.  D.,  long  prominent  in  training  work. 
Boston,  which  maintains  the  best  "superintendents' 
unions"  in  the  land,  has,  so  far,  no  concerted  teacher- 
training  system.  Philadelphia  recendy  organized  an 
elaborate  Insdtute  of  Teacher -Training,  with  weekly 
lectures  by  a  faculty  of  six  men  of  unusual  ability, 
and  an  official  course  of  study  with  graduation  and 
diploma.  How  far  its  well-laid  plans  have  succeeded 
I  have  not  learned.  New  York  City  has  its  Bible 
Teachers'  Training  School,  erected  upon  an  almost 
ideal  plan,  devoUng  five  periods  of  one  hour  each  on 
Friday  afternoons  to  an  appointed  course  of  study 
under  some  of  the  distinguished  specialists  of  that 
city.      Chicago  is  the  center  of  the  Religious  Educa- 


78  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

tion  Association,  the  most  recent  organization  for  the 
promotion  of  religious  education.  With  more  than  a 
score  of  departments,  a  membership  of  many  distin- 
guished ministers  and  educational  leaders  in  annual 
convention,  much  should  be  expected  of  this  body  in 
helpfulness  to  Sunday-school  teachers. 

The  trouble  with  the  cities  has  been  that  their  plans 
have  usually  been  too  elaborate  and  high  pitched. 
The  lecture  method  without  text,  weighty  courses  on 
psychology,  and  critical  discussions  of  the  Bible,  are 
beyond  the  mass  of  plain  Sunday-school  workers, 
however  profitable  to  advanced  students.  Whatever 
is  done  in  the  cities  in  ways  of  teacher-training  must, 
in  the  beginning  at  least,  be  very  simple  and  imme- 
diately helpful,  or  it  will  not  touch  the  rank  and  file. 

The  most  successful  city  experiment  1  have  known 
began  in  Chicago  in  1901,  under  Mr.  W.  C.  Pearce, 
then  Sunday-school  secretary  of  Cook  County.  With 
a  purely  elementary  course  of  study  he  organized  his 
first  training  class,  with  an  enrolment  of  two  hundred 
students  drawn  from  many  schools,  and  maintained 
for  six  months  of  the  year.  In  1902,  with  four  classes 
in  the  four  sections  of  the  city,  there  were  often  one 
thousand  students  in  attendance.  These  students,  as 
they  were  graduated,  in  turn  organized  training  classes 
of  young  people  in  their  respective  Sunday-schools. 
The  sessions  of  Mr.  Pearce' s  classes  were  divided  be- 
tween the  study  of  the  training-course  and  the  next 
Sunday's  regular  lesson.  Out  of  these  classes  have 
already  come  hundreds  of  graduates.  The  very  sim- 
plicity of  the  system,  with  the  elementary  quality  of 
the  work  required,  made  it  at  once  popular  and  ef- 


Inte7'denominational  and  Deriominational       79 

fective.  Now  that  the  International  Convention  has 
erected  a  teacher-training  department,  and  appointed 
this  same  leader  as  its  secretary,  a  forward  movement 
may  be  looked  for  in  other  cities. 

AMONG  THE  DENOMINATIONS 

In  the  order  of  evolution  denominational  training 
work  comes  last,  and,  by  the  same  sign,  is,  or  ought 
to  be,  best.  It  is  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  Thus 
far  the  work  among  the  denominations  is  largely  ten- 
tative and  experimental.  Its  most  hopeful  feature 
is  in  the  widespread  interest  aroused  among  all  the 
churches.  Even  such  denominations  as  have  made 
no  beginning  are  frank  to  confess  through  their  Sun- 
day-school leaders  that  they  greatly  need  and  desire 
the  introduction  of  some  plan  of  teacher-training. 
The  denominations  whose  polity  is  "  connectional" 
have  more  easily  instituted  their  plans,  but  those  of 
congregational  autonomy  are  finding  a  way  to  broad 
denominational  systems.  The  Christian,  or  Disciples, 
Church,  at  its  convention  in  Detroit,  in  1903,  after 
mature  consideration,  appointed  a  strong  committee  to 
devise  and  direct  a  system  of  training  for  its  teachers. 
Two  years  ago  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
by  the  reorganization  of  its  Sunday-school  management, 
made  practicable  and  imminent  the  establishment  of 
a  general  plan  of  teacher-training,  in  place  of  the 
synodical  plans  already  partly  in  operation.  The 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  is  not  yet  officially  in 
the  field  of  teacher-training,  but  I  have  the  assurance 
of  its  capable  superintendent  of  Sunday-school  work 
that  this  will  be  its  next  forward  step.     The  Presby- 


8o  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

byterian  Church  and  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Canada  are  both  actively  and  thoroughly  enlisted. 
The  former,  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Worden, 
began  a  good  work  years  ago,  and  is  now  centering  its 
training  efforts  upon  the  organization  in  every  Sunday- 
school  of  a  training-class  of  young  people.  Nearly  a 
thousand  of  its  schools  are  thus  taking  part.  The 
Canadian  Presbyterians,  profiting  by  the  blunders 
and  successes  of  other  churches,  erected,  in  1902,  a 
system  nearly  faultless  in  its  details,  that  is  already 
becoming  a  power  in  that  church.  For  thoroughly 
good  work,  carefulness  of  supervision,  and  ability  of 
the  men  in  charge,  the  Canadian  Presbyterians  are 
easily  leading  the  way.  The  Congregationalists  have 
not  a  general  plan,  uniform  and  authoritative,  but  in 
many  ways  and  throughout  their  entire  communion 
are  emphasizing  and  enforcing  the  training  of  their 
teachers.  Dr.  Dunning  and  his  "Bible  Studies" 
and  Institutes  have  for  many  years  been  an  important 
factor  in  the  training  work,  not  only  of  Congrega- 
tionalism, but  of  other  Protestant  bodies. 

The  Baptist  Church,  with  its  millions  of  members 
and  aggressive  Sunday-school  spirit,  is  yet  to  organize 
and  unify  its  training  work.  Much  has  been  done 
through  its  staff  of  missionaries  by  way  of  institutes, 
conventions,  and  normal  classes  under  the  skilful 
leadership  of  such  men  as  Blackall,  Spilman,  and 
others  ;  but  it  is  the  sincere  hope  of  the  writer  at  least 
that  this  great  and  progressive  denomination  will 
overcome  whatever  difficulties  inhere  in  its  autonomy, 
and  erect  a  teacher-training  system  for  its  host  of 
workers. 


Iiitcrdenoininational  mid  Dcnomi7iatioiial       8i 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  great  also  in 
numbers  and  in  achievement,  gave  Vincent,  Hurlbut, 
and  other  pioneers  to  sow  the  seed  the  fruits  of  which 
all  churches  are  now  ready  to  harvest.  For  a  time 
the  training  work,  begun  officially  in  1868  by  Vin- 
cent, intermitted,  or  was  merged  into  the  Chautauqua 
movement.  During  the  past  quadrennium,  however, 
there  has  been  a  notable  revival  under  Dr.  T.  B. 
Neely,  the  head  of  its  Sunday-school  department. 
Nine  chosen  trainers  are  now  in  the  field  of  that 
church,  and  the  "People's  Bible  Institute"  has 
been  set  in  operation  for  the  organization  of  training 
"centers"  or  branches  in  all  communities  and  Sun- 
day-schools, 

The  Church  of  England  in  Canada  has  done  much 
to  further  the  work  of  teacher-training,  especially  in 
the  Diocese  of  Nova  Scotia,  where  there  has  been  the 
most  co-operation  from  the  churches.  There  are  931 
teachers  in  the  diocese,  and  62  now  hold  the  diocesan 
diploma  as  a  result  of  two  examinations,  and  another 
examination  will  be  held  in  May,  1904.  Hurlbut' s 
Revised  Normal  Lessons  is  the  text-book  in  use. 


WHAT  SOUTHERN  METHODISM  IS  DOING 


VII 

WHAT  SOUTHERN  METHODISM  IS  DOING 

THE    FIRST   STEPS 

1HAVE  no  apology  for  this  exposition  of  what 
Southern  Methodism  is  doing  in  teacher-train- 
ing ways.  An  object  lesson  is  better  than  a  study  of  , 
abstractions,  and  the  actual  methods  of  one  de- 
nomination should  be  interesting  and  profitable  to 
others. 

A  beginning  was  made  in  1901.  Dr.  James  At- 
kins, Sunday-school  editor  and  chairman  of  the  Gene- 
ral Sunday-school  Board,  was,  and  is,  the  aggressive 
head  of  the  Sunday-school  department  of  the  church. 
The  idea  of  erecting  a  teacher-training  department,  as 
thorough  and  modern  as  it  could  be  made,  was  wholly 
his.  In  the  work  of  bringing  this  to  pass  he  was  cor- 
dially helped  by  our  Book  Committee  and  by  such 
men  as  John  R.  Pepper  and  others.  Considering  the 
conservatism  of  the  South  in  all  religious  matters,  and 
the  dependency  of  Methodism  upon  General  Confer- 
ence legislation,  it  was  a  bold  and  somewhat  perilous 
undertaking  upon  the  part  of  an  officer  and  his  Board 
to  depart  from  the  traditions  of  a  department,  and 
project  a  far-reaching  and  expensive  movement,  in 
the  expectation  that  later  General  Conference  action 
would  confirm  and  adopt  it.  It  is  proof  at  once  of 
the  wisdom  of  the  Sunday-school  editor  and  the  pro- 
found   interest  of  Southern    Methodism  in  Sunday- 

85 


86  How  to  Beco7Ji€  a  Trained  Teacher 

school  matters  that  this  expectation  was  abundantly 
confirmed. 

When  the  General  Conference  of  the  church  met  in 
Dallas  in  1902,  a  year  after  the  movement  was  ten- 
tatively begun,  the  episcopal  address  strongly  urged 
the  permanent  adoption  of  the  movement,  and  of  the 
hundreds  of  votes  taken  upon  the  question  not  one 
was  negative.  The  teacher-training  plans  were  per- 
manently included  in  the  book  of  Discipline,  the 
quadrennial  appointment  of  a  superintendent  of  train- 
ing work  was  authorized,  and  upon  all  pastors  it  was 
made  mandatory  "as  far  as  practicable  to  organize 
the  Bible  Teachers'  Study  Circle  in  their  respective 
charges. ' ' 

Partly,  perhaps,  because  I  was  born  into  this  church, 
but  chiefly  for  the  reason  that  my  life  work  had  been 
along  the  lines  of  teacher-training,  I  was  called  to 
the  newly  created  office,  and  put  in  charge  of  a 
movement  without  precedent  or  landmark,  so  far 
as  I  could  ascertain.  I  wrote  to  the  heads  of  most 
of  the  American  Sunday-school  departments  before 
entering  upon  my  office,  in  the  hope  that  I  might 
be  guided  by  their  teacher  -  training  experiences. 
Their  prompt  and  kindly  replies  assured  me  that  in 
name  only,  but  not  in  actual  achievement,  did  such 
departments  here  and  there  exist.  I  make  special 
note  of  this  information  as  I  gathered  it  early  in  1901, 
for  the  reason  that  it  became  plain  to  me  at  the  time 
that  Southern  Methodism  was  fairly  entitled  to  what- 
ever honor  belongs  to  the  real  pioneer  in  the  field  of 
denominational  teacher  -  training,  as  the  first  great 
church  in  America  or  in  the  world  to  erect  and  main- 


W/iai  Sonther7i  Methodism  is  Doing  87 

tain  an  exclusive  teacher-training  department,  for- 
mally enacted  by  its  law-makers,  directed  by  a 
specialist,  and  conducted  after  approved  modern 
educational  principles  and  methods.  I  think  this 
claim  is  already  allowed  by  those  who  know  the 
facts  of  Sunday-school  history,  but  I  remember  the 
story  of  Columbus  and  the  egg,  and  I  beg  pardon 
for  saying  that  this  particular  egg  was  the  first  to 
stand  on  end. 

PLAN    OF   WORK 

The  office  of  the  Superintendent  of  Training  Work 
is  in  the  Nashville  publishing  house  of  the  church, 
along  with  its  other  general  departments.  The  de- 
partment of  training  is  a  part  of,  and  under  the  gene- 
ral administration  of,  the  Sunday-school  Board.  The 
superintendent  of  training  is  accorded  rank  with  the 
connectional  or  general  officers  of  the  church,  and, 
whether  by  bishops,  pastors,  or  the  church  in  general, 
is  in  no  wise  made  to  suffer  in  honor  or  privilege. 
Indeed,  from  the  first,  carte  bhmche  has  been  given 
to  the  training  superintendent  to  formulate  his  own 
plans,  provide  all  proper  hterature,  construct  his  own 
itineraries,  and  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  his  depart- 
ment to  plan  according  to  his  own  judgment.  Left 
free  to  invent  and  follow  out  his  own  plans,  he  is 
held  responsible  for  results  only.  I  take  pains  to 
state  this  explicitly  to  the  credit  of  the  church,  and  as 
a  hint  to  the  leaders  of  other  denominations.  Only 
when  teacher-training  is  given  high  place  in  the  legis- 
lation and  administration  of  a  church  will  it  be  rightly 
esteemed  by  ministry  and  laity. 


88  Ho%v  to  Become  a  Traijied  Teacher 

Two  general  duties  are  assigned  by  our  book  of 
Discipline  to  the  office  of  superintendent  of  training 
work, — to  ' '  conduct  the  Bible  Teachers'  Study  Circle ' ' 
and  to  "hold  institutes  or  conventions"  auxiliary 
thereto.  The  latter  duty  is  a  vital  one.  It  means 
practically  the  spending  of  three-fourths  of  the  year 
in  the  field  among  the  forty-six  Conferences  of  the 
church,  and  the  holding  of  very  many  meetings  of 
Sunday-school  officers  and  teachers  in  the  larger 
cities  and  towns.  While  the  programs  of  these  meet- 
ings include  all  current  Sunday-school  questions, 
their  chief  purpose  is  to  plant  and  cultivate  the 
"Teachers'  Study  Circle."  At  one  such  meeting  in 
Texas,  for  instance,  I  had  five  hundred  delegates 
from  a  large  Conference  at  the  opening  session.  In 
many  of  my  Conferences  these  institutes  have  already 
become  annual  events,  provided  and  paid  for  by 
Conference  Sunday-school  Boards,  and  conducted  by 
the  Superintendent  of  Training  Work.  In  the  greater 
cities  I  am  organizing  permanent  Methodist  Sunday- 
school  unions,  which  center  upon  the  new  training 
movement.  Louisville,  St.  Louis,  Dallas^  Nashville, 
Atlanta,  are  among  these  cities.  In  one  of  these 
cities  1  have  just  closed  an  annual  "Workers' 
Conference,"  which  filled  to  overtlowing  a  large 
auditorium  for  five  consecutive  nights,  in  which 
the  "Circle"  training  plans  were  illustrated  and 
enforced. 

Not  only  among  the  laity,  but  before  all  ministerial 
gatherings,  is  the  work  presented.  In  Annual  and 
District  Conferences,  in  stated  and  special  meetings  of 
pastors,    the   training  work  is  given   prominence  by 


What  SoutJieni  Methodism  is  Doing  89 

bishops,  Conference  boards,  and  presiding  elders,  by 
way  of  Conference  anniversaries  and  "pastors'  insti- 
tutes." While  here  and  there  I  find  a  few  of  these 
men  of  the  cloth  who  hold  under  suspicion  a  depar- 
ture from  traditional  Sunday-school  ways,  or  who  so 
magnify  the  preaching  function  as  to  neglect  other 
ministerial  responsibilities,  I  think  I  can  say  truly 
that  ninety  per  cent  of  our  more  than  five  thousand 
effective  pastors  are  in  accord  with  the  training  work 
of  the  church.  I  fully  realize  that  its  success  de- 
pends largely,  if  not  wholly,  upon  this  ministerial 
co-operation  ;  and  I  therefore  never  fail  to  set  my 
cause  before  a  meeting  of  preachers,  and  to  urge 
their  support  in  organizing  and  caring  for  the  local 
Circles.  It  has  been  my  chief  encouragement  during 
the  two  years  of  my  service  that  pastors  are  always 
strongly  in  evidence  at  my  institutes,  and  many  of 
them  are,  in  fact,  leaders  of  their  local  Circles.  I 
have  been  further  encouraged  by  the  significant 
fact  that  our  one  theological  school,  the  Vanderbilt 
University  Theological  Department,  by  which  hun- 
dreds of  our  young  pastors  are  being  equipped,  re- 
cently unanimously  elected  me  as  its  Sunday-school 
lecturer. 

THE   TRAINING   COURSE 

The  "Bible  Teachers'  Study  Circle"  comprises 
seven  little  books,  averaging  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pages,  six  of  these  books  constituting  the  course  for 
teachers  and  seven  for  officers.  I  cannot  do  better 
than  to  give  here,  in  form,  the  pith  of  a  little  leaflet 
which  issues  from  my  office  in  tens  of  thousands. 


90  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

BIBLE  TEACHERS'  STUDY  CIRCLE 

First  Course 
The  books  of  the  first  course,  in  cloth,  three  in  number,  at 
^i  per  set,  postpaid,  or  50  cents  each,  are  as  follows  : 

"Sunday-School  History  and  Method,"  Cunnyngham. 
History  and  method  brought  down  to  date. 

"  Sunday-School  Teacher,"  HamilL 
A  practical  book  on  teaching. 

"  Bible  Studies,"  Dunning. 
A  masterpiece  of  Bible  study. 

Final  Course 
The  three  books  of  the  second,  or  final,  course,  in  cloth,  at 
^i  per  set,  or  50  cents  each,  are  as  follows  : 

"  History  of  Methodism  "  (revised),  Boswell. 
The  very  pith  and  essence  of  general  Methodist  history 

"  Our  Doctrine  and  Polity,"  Atkins  and  Tillett. 
A  most  timely  and  helpful  book. 

"The  Bible  and  its  Books,"  HamiU. 
A  brief  story  of  our  Bible,  and  study  of  its  several  books. 

Special  for  Sunday-School  Officers 
The  seventh  and  last  book  of  the  course,  for  officers  only^  is 

"The  Organized  Sunday-School,"  Axtell. 
The  best  book  on  Sunday-school  management  that  has  yet  appeared. 

Price,  40  cents,  postpaid. 

It  is  worth  noting,  as  to  the  above  list  of  books, 
that  they  are  all  small  in  volume  and  condensed  in 
matter,  and  are  sold  to  our  students  at  a  minimum 
profit  ;  that  they  include  five  lines  of  Sunday-school 
training, — namely,  Sunday-school  history  and  method, 
teaching,  Bible  study.  Church  history  and  doctrine, 
and  Sunday-school  management.  Five  of  the  seven 
books  were  specially  written  for  the  Circle.  The 
omission  of  a  book  on    child  study   in   the   regular 


9i 

teachers'  course  above  is  provided  for  by  allowing 
optional  study  oi  Black's  "  Practical  Primary  Plans" 
to  all  primary  teachers.  Provision  is  also  made  by 
the  General  Board  for  constant  and  exclusive  ser- 
vice, in  all  institutes  and  conventions,  ot  an  expert 
primary  instructor. 

HONORING   OUR   GRADUATES 

The  first  books  were  issued  two  years  ago.  Ten 
thousand  students  are  now  enrolled  in  my  office, 
constituting  six  hundred  and  fifty  local  Circles,  which 
range  in  membership  from  three  or  four  to  fifty  stu- 
dents, in  every  part  of  our  church  territory.  I  have 
Circles  at  work  in  Mexico  and  Japan,  and  the  books 
are  beginning  to  be  translated  into  other  languages 
for  use  of  foreign  students.  Each  local  Circle  has  one 
officer  only,  the  "Circle  leader,"  who  is  the  inter- 
mediary between  my  office  and  his  Circle,  and  who 
directs  the  student,  applies  to  my  office  for  examina- 
tion questions  when  his  Circle  is  ready,  conducts  the 
examinations,  forwards  the  papers  to  me  to  be  graded, 
and  receives  in  return  the  diplomas  of  the  church. 

This  leader  is  often  the  superintendent  or  pastor. 
No  time  limit  is  set  for  completing  the  course,  though 
the  Board  advises  two  years  as  a  minimum.  The 
examinations  are  not  '*  upon  honor,"  but  under  care- 
ful local  supervision,  and  must  be  attested  as  "fair 
and  honest"  by  leader  and  student.  As  soon  as  a 
Circle  completes  a  book,  and  is  examined  upon  it, 
the  study  of  the  next  book  in  prescribed  order  is  en- 
tered upon.  Whenever  a  Circle  graduates  from  the 
full  course,  a  special  local  graduating  or  "  recognition 


92  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

service"   is  enjoined,  and  is  becoming  adopted.     At 
the  annual  conferences,  in  all  institutes,  in  the  teach- 


ers' magazine  of  our  church,  the  names  and  records 
of  all  Circle  students  who  graduate  are  given  honor. 


What  Southern  Methodism  is  Doing  93 

At  the  Holston  Conference  Sunday-school  anniversary 
recently,  all  graduates  of  the  previous  year  were  given 
place  upon  the  platform,  and  were  the  subjects  of  a 
fine  address  by  one  of  the  chief  officers  of  the  church. 
Already  several  hundred  partial  and  full-course  diplo- 
mas have  been  issued  to  graduates,  and  the  movement 
is  quietly  but  surely  rooting  itself  deeply  in  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  the  ministry  and  laity  of  the  church. 
Our  bishops  heartily  favor  it,  many  presiding  elders 
zealously  seek  to  promote  it,  most  of  our  pastors  are 
becoming  sincerely  interested  in  it,  and  our  teachers 
and  young  people  are  steadily  falling  into  line.  I 
think  this  is  a  fair  statement  of  the  case,  without 
•*  colour  of  rose."  I  can  see  unmistakable  signs  of  a 
yet  wider  and  deeper  movement,  which  will  extend, 
through  specialists  now  in  training  and  yet  to  be 
trained,  into  each  Conference  territory,  what  I  am  now, 
to  the  full  measure  of  my  strength,  trying  to  do  for  the 
entire  church.  Within  a  few  years  our  training  work 
will  demand  a  score  or  more  of  our  best  young  men, 
equipped  and  appointed  to  serve  as  training  superin- 
tendents within  the  several  Conferences.  Incidentally 
I  may  say,  for  the  encouragement  of  other  denomi- 
nations, that  the  demand  upon  our  church  pubhsh- 
ing  houses  for  Sunday-school  literature,  books,  ap- 
pliances, etc.,  has  greatly  increased,  and  that  the 
training  movement  in  Southern  Methodism,  from  a 
financial  point  of  view,  is  more  than  paying  its  way. 


A   SPECIMEN    TEACHER-TRAINING   COURSE 


VIII 

A   SPECIMEN   TEACHER-TRAINING   COURSE 
Blackboard  Outline 


THE    LESSON 

HALF-HOUR. 

I.  Getting  Ready  : 

O.  T 

..  C.  G..  C.  S..  A.  B.  C. 

,  II.  Testing. 

III.  Teaching. 

Attention. 
Home  study. 
Thought. 

Plan. 

Matter. 

Method. 

IV.  Reviewing. 

V.  Applying. 

Every  Sunday. 
By  the  scholar. 
Orderly  and  accurate 

Knowledge. 

Prayer. 

The  Holy  Spirit, 

DRIVING  A  NAIL 

TEACHING  is  like  driving  a  nail.  You  have  often 
heard  of  "driving  the  truth  home,"  which  is  a 
figure  of  the  carpenter  and  his  work.  One  can 
learn  to  drive  a  nail,  and  any  one  can  learn  to  teach. 
Teaching  is  an  art,  and  can  be  mastered  like  stenog- 
raphy, or  bookbinding,  or  housekeeping,  or  any  one 
of  the  industrial  arts.  It  takes  time  and  patience, 
but  final  success  is  as  sure  as  in  other  arts.  There 
are  few  "born"  teachers.  They  are  as  rare  as  the 
born  musicians  and  artists  and  poets.  Most  of  those 
who  have  become  eminent  as  teachers  in  secular  and 
religious  education  are  self-made  teachers.  They 
learned  how, — by  observation,  by  practice,   by  hard 

97 


98  How  to  Becojne  a  Trained  Teacher 

study.  They  were  bunglers  at  beginning,  and  came 
to  success  by  finding  out  their  blunders  and  making 
them  stepping-stones  to  higher  success.  Shake- 
speare's words  might  be  paraphrased  to  fit  the  case  : 
"Some  are  born  to  teach  ;  some  have  teaching  thrust 
upon  them  ;  but  most  teachers  achieve  teaching." 

The  ' '  lesson  half-hour  ' '  is  the  crux  of  the  Sunday- 
school  teacher.  It  is  the  supreme  test  of  his  work. 
Out  of  a  whole  week  he  has  thirty  golden  minutes  in 
which  to  teach  the  greatest  and  hardest  of  all  books, 
often  to  boys  and  girls  who  never  hear  of  it  outside 
the  Sunday-school  class.  Every  minute  of  the  thirty, 
every  step  of  the  teacher  in  that  half-hour,  is  weighty 
with  responsibility.  There  is  a  right  way  to  begin  it, 
there  are  right  methods  to  use  in  putting  the  lesson 
before  the  class,  and  there  is  a  right  way  to  bring  that 
half-hour  to  an  end.  If  teaching  is  indeed  an  art, 
and  if  any  one  of  you  can  learn  it,  you  have  the  right 
to  ask  me  :  "  How  should  I  begin,  and  continue,  and 
close  ?  How  can  I  use  the  short  half-hour  to  best 
advantage  ?  What  are  the  points  that  a  teacher  must 
steadily  keep  in  mind  while  teaching  ?  What  steps, 
and  in  what  order,  must  I  take  in  setting  forth  a  Sun- 
day-school lesson  ?"  I  shall  try  to  make  answer.  I 
have  put  in  outline  on  my  blackboard  five  steps.  No 
lesson  can  be  truly  taught  without  taking  these  five 
distinct  steps.  No  step  of  the  five  can  be  omitted,  if  the 
lesson  half-hour  is  to  be  effective  and  complete. 
Leave  out  a  bone  or  artery  of  the  body,  and  it  is  like 
the  teacher  who  omits  any  one  of  the  steps  I  indicate. 
Read  with  me  these  successive  steps  of  the  lesson 
half-hour:    "Getting  Ready,"    "Testing,"   "Teach- 


A  specimen  Teacher -Traini7ig  Course         99 

ing, "   "  Reviewing, "   "  Applying. ' '     Let  us  take  them 
in  order. 

GETTING  READY 

The  one  who  gets  ready  to  do  a  thing  is  likely  to  do 
it.  The  one  who  "gets  ready"  for  business  is  in 
demand  among  business  men.  The  engineer  who 
gets  ready  his  engine — every  bolt,  valve,  and  flue  in 
order — is  the  man  I  like  to  ride  behind  on  a  journey. 
The  lesson  half-hour  means  only  confusion  and  waste 
to  the  teacher  who  is  not  ready  for  it.  I  have  given 
four  points  that  the  teacher  viiist  make  ready  if  he  is 
to  make  good  use  of  his  half-hour.  They  come  before 
that  half-hour  begins.  What  is  the  first?  (O.  T.) 
That  is  old-fashioned  and  commonplace,  but  I  assure 
you  no  teacher  ever  did,  or  ever  will,  succeed  who  dis- 
regards it.  It  stands  for  "  On  Time,"  which  means, 
to  the  teacher,  full  ten  minutes  ahead  of  time.  It  is 
useless  for  a  teacher  to  expect  success  who  neglects 
the  things  that  make  success.  The  promptness  of  a 
teacher,  I  have  noted  for  many  years,  is  the  sure 
prophecy  of  his  success.  The  teacher  who  comes  at 
the  last  minute  comes  mentally  and  spiritually  out  of 
sorts,  irritable  and  irritating.  His  battle  is  lost  in 
the  first  five  minutes.  He  might  have  preoccupied 
the  mischievous  spirits  of  his  class,  and  made  an 
orderly  beginning,  but  his  late  coming  has  lost  the 
day's  victory.  Coming  O.  T.,  he  should  give  to  his 
scholars  that  "  C-ordial  G-reeting"  which  every 
teacher  owes  to  his  boys  and  girls,  some  of  whom,  I 
am  sorry  to  say,  know  little  of  cordial  greetings  in  the 
home.     What  a  strange  forgetfulness  is  that  of  the 


loo  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

teacher  who  fails  to  give  a  hearty  hand-shake  and  word 
of  welcome  to  the  little  fellows  who  would  be  so  glad 
to  get  it,  and  who  would  be  disarmed  of  mischief  by 
it?  You  cannot  always  control  the  "  C.  S.,"  which 
stands  for  "comfortable  surroundings,"  but  under 
the  worst  physical  conditions  you  can  mass  the  class 
about  you,  putting  them  where  they  can  hear  you  and 
see  you  face  to  face.  I  believe  in  the  hypnotic 
power  of  the  eye,  and  I  always  keep  my  eyes  busy  in 
teaching.  I  believe  also  in  teaching  at  short  range, 
and  I  make  the  radii  between  me  and  the  class  as 
short  as  possible.  If  I  have  one  boy  more  mischievous 
than  another,  I  take  pains  to  place  him  closest  to  me, 
so  that  I  can  rest  my  hand — lovingly — upon  him. 

What  is  the  "A.  B.  C."  of  the  Sunday-school 
teacher  ?  It  is  simply  this  :  Putting  all  lesson- 
leaves  aside,  laying  down  in  the  pew  everything  but 
the  one  book,  the  Bible,  and  then  throughout  the 
half-hour  teaching  eye  to  eye,  face  to  face,  heart  to 
heart,— A.  B.  C,  "All  Books  Closed."  It  is  the 
beginning  of  the  alphabet  of  teaching,  and  until  you 
are  willing  to  do  this,  or  at  least  patiently  to  attempt 
it,  you  might  as  well  give  over  the  hope  of  success. 
Learn  to  "shoot  without  a  rest,"  if  you  expect  ever 
to  become  an  expert  marksman. 

TESTING 

The  second  step  is  testing.  You  are  ready  now  to 
take  up  the  day's  lesson.  Your  coming  on  time, 
your  kindly  welcome  to  your  scholars,  your  plans  for 
a  comfortable  hour,  your  thorough  knowledge  of  what 
you   are  to  teach,   put  you  at  ease,   and  make  you 


A  Specimen  Teacher -Training  Course        loi 

master  of  the  situation.  What  am  I  to  test  ?  First, 
attention.  I  might  say  first  and  last,  as  the  test  of 
attention  must  run  throughout  every  moment  of  the 
lesson,  you  cannot  begin  or  continue  or  conclude  a 
lesson  without  it.  The  teacher's  knowledge  is  only 
one-half  the  circle.  The  other  half  is  the  scholar's 
attention.  Resolve  that  you  will  not  teach  without  it. 
Do  everything  possible  to  secure  it.  Make  any  sacri- 
fice to  get  it.  Hold  every  member  of  your  class  re- 
sponsible for  every  part  of  the  lesson.  Never  begin 
teaching  in  the  least  disorder.  Never  continue  a 
moment  after  inattention  sets  in.  Give  the  scholar 
who  is  wandering  something  to  do.  Ply  him  with 
questions.  Be  ready  to  spring  a  surprise  upon  any 
one  who  turns  away  his  mind  or  face.  Don' t  fret  or 
worry  or  scold.  Never  ask  for  attention.  Determine, 
by  God's  help,  that  you  will  have  it,  and  methods 
will  rise  up  when  needed. 

Test  the  home  study.  Remember  that  most  schol- 
ars are  lacking  in  parental  help  at  home,  and  that 
thirty  minutes  a  week  is  all  too  little  for  their  Bible 
study.  Plan  for  home  study.  Take  every  lesson  to 
pieces  a  week  in  advance,  and  give  out  the  parts  to 
scholars.  Show  them  precisely  what  you  wish  them 
to  do  in  the  home.  Pledge  them  to  read  the  lesson 
over  in  the  home.  Show  them  how  to  use  lesson-leaf 
and  Bible  together  in  learning  a  lesson.  Let  them 
understand  that  you  expect  home  study.  Begin  by 
questioning  upon  it  in  the  lesson  half-hour.  No 
matter  how  often  the  reply  comes,  "  I  don't  know," 
or  "  I  have  not  studied  it,"  keep  up  your  opening 
fire  of  questions  every  Sunday,  and  assume  that  they 


I02  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

have  studied.  This  is  what  the  trained  public  school 
teacher  does,  and  this  is  why  "  leaves  "  and  "helps*' 
are  never  seen  in  the  secular  lesson  half-hour.  Every 
influence  that  can  be  called  into  use  is  made  to  press 
upon  the  scholar  to  secure  his  study  at  home. 

Test  the  thought  of  your  scholars.  Plan  your 
questions  to  make  them  think.  Do  not  lecture  them. 
The  lecture  method  may  do  for  the  college  class- 
room, though  I  have  my  doubts  about  it.  Certainly 
it  is  not  for  Sunday-school  boys  and  girls.  They  need 
simple  thought-provoking  questions  upon  the  text  of 
the  lesson.  Take  verse  by  verse,  and  draw  out  from 
them,  each  according  to  his  ability,  what  the  text 
says  and  what  it  means.  Do  not  think  for  them. 
Give  them  time  to  think  for  themselves.  Better  let 
a  boy  or  girl  wrestle  five  minutes  over  a  word  or  sen- 
tence of  the  text,  and  finally  get  at  it,  than  for  the 
teacher  to  fill  him  with  a  mass  of  knowledge  he  can- 
not digest.  The  best  teaching  in  the  world  is  that 
which  compels  the  learner  to  do  his  own  thinking. 

TEACHING 

Your  opening  test  of  home  study,  your  constant  test 
of  attention  and  thought,  open  the  way  for  your  plan 
of  the  day's  teaching.  I  need  not  urge  that  there 
must  be  a  "  plan  "  to  every  lesson,  yet  I  often  come 
upon  aimless,  chaotic,  disjointed  Sunday-school 
teaching,  abounding  in  knowledge  and  illustration, 
but  without  form,  and  void.  Your  danger  will  be  try- 
ing to  use  bodily  the  plans  of  the  great  lesson-writers 
and  papers  without  fitting  them  to  your  smaller  need. 
I  believe  in  a  home-made  plan   for  every  teacher. 


A  Specimen  Teacher -Traming  Course        103 

When  Saturday  night  comes,  you  should  have  a 
home-spun  plan  of  what  you  are  to  teach,  what  things 
in  the  lesson  are  of  vital  account,  how  the  lesson 
should  begin  and  close,  especially  how  it  should  be 
fitted  to  your  scholars. 

As  to  the  matter  of  your  teaching,  that  must  depend 
upon  your  class.  The  less  of  the  abstract  and  the 
more  of  the  concrete  you  can  put  into  your  teaching 
of  boys  and  girls  the  better.  Leave  ' '  ologies ' '  and 
"doctrines"  to  the  seniors,  where  they  will  harm  least. 
I  have  known  scarcely  a  lesson  in  twenty-five  years 
that  did  not  have  in  it  in  plain  sight  some  one 
great  practical  truth  that  I  could  make  the  nucleus  of 
my  lesson  plan,  and  fit  it  to  my  boys  or  girls.  One 
such  truth — and  you  will  usually  find  the  key  to  it  in 
the  Golden  Text — is  enough  for  the  lesson  half-hour. 
Settle  upon  that,  bend  everything  to  it,  go  over  it  again 
and  again,  make  it  the  heart  of  the  day' s  teaching, 
and  put  your  whole  heart  into  it.  As  to  a  method  of 
teaching  I  have  little  to  say.  Any  method  that  drives 
the  truth  home  is  right.  I  change  methods  as  I 
change  my  clothing.  If  I  see  a  good  method  I  bor- 
row it,  and  use  it,  and  then  throw  it  away.  Only  do  not 
use  adult  methods  on  children,  or  conversely.  I  have 
found  nothing  so  good  for  boys  and  girls  as  the  old 
Socratic  method  of  the  question  and  answer. 

REVIEWING 

So  far,  your  teaching  has  aimed  at  imparting,  but 
that  is  only  half  your  work.  You  can  never  know 
from  your  own  point  of  view  as  the  teacher  whether 
the  scholar' s  learning  has  kept  pace  with  you.     You 


lo4  How  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

must  prove  your  teaching.  No  lesson  is  complete 
until  the  teacher  knows  that  what  he  has  taught  the 
scholar  has  surely  learned.  If  every  teacher  would 
apply  this  test  to  his  work,  his  teaching  would  grow 
in  simplicity  and  power.  The  old  Jesuits  understood 
it.  It  was  "line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept," 
with  them.  They  never  let  up  until  what  they  had 
set  out  to  teach  had  been  thoroughly  learned.  There- 
fore, review  every  Sunday.  Review  especially  all 
hard  lessons  until  they  become  easy.  Do  not  do  this 
reviewing  yourself.  Let  it  come  from  your  scholars, 
one  by  one.  Give  each  a  part  in  it.  Only  what  a 
scholar  can  "tell  back"  does  he  know.  Take  noth- 
ing for  granted.  Let  the  scholar' s  review  or  restate- 
ment of  the  lesson,  or  of  some  part  of  it,  be  as 
orderly  and  accurate  as  he  can  make  it.  Truth,  in  or- 
der to  be  retained  and  used  readily  and  with  profit, 
must  be  after  an  orderly  plan,  and  exact  in  statement. 
Do  not  be  discouraged  if  the  review  by  the  scholar 
seems  slow  and  bungling.  It  is  vastly  better  so  as  a 
test  of  his  learning  and  a  proof  of  your  teaching,  than 
any  possible  re-viewing  you  could  do  for  him. 

APPLYING 

The  last  step — not  always  last  in  time — is  applying 
the  lesson.  It  is  rather  applying  that  which  is  vital, 
spiritual,  and  most  profitable  in  it,  to  your  class.  The 
hardest  thing  I  have  to  do  is  finding  what  and  how  to 
apply  this  one  soul-saving  truth.  I  can  never  come 
to  it  until  by  hard  study  I  have  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  lesson.  I  do  not  believe  one  can  get  at  it  by  any- 
other  way  than  first  by  hard  study.      Certainly  God  will 


A  Specimen  Teacher-  Training  Course        105 

not  unlock  the  Bible  to  laggards  and  ignoramuses. 
But  I  find  that  I  need  to  know  also  my  boys  and  girls, 
or  how  can  I  apply  the  truth,  after  I  have  found  it,  to 
those  whom  I  do  not  know  or  understand  ?  And 
when  I  have  studied  my  lesson  the  best  my  conditions 
as  a  teacher  allowed,  and  have  learned  also  to  know, 
without  and  within,  my  Sunday-school  scholars,  there 
is  just  one  thing  more  I  must  do — last  and  greatest 
and  most  needy  it  is — before  I  can  truly  and  wisely 
apply  the  truth  of  God  to  human  souls.  I  must  go  to 
my  closet  and  pi'ay.  God  forbid  that  I  go  before  my 
boys  and  girls  except  from  bended  knee.  "From 
closet  to  class."  When  I  have  done  ail  else,  then, 
and  not  until  then,  will  the  Holy  Spirit  own  and  bless 
my  lesson  half-hour. 

DRIVING  A  NAIL 

How  is  this  teaching  like  driving  a  nail  ?     I  have 

here  a  good,  big,  strong (nail).      I  took  pains  to 

get  ready  as  fine  a  nail  as  the  hardware  man  could 
give  me.  Getting  ready  the  nail  is  the  first  step, — it 
is  coming  on  time,  making  welcome  your  class,  know- 
ing your  lesson  so  that  you  can  teach  (all  books  closed). 

What  is  the  next  thing  a  carpenter  does  with  his 
nail  ?  He  sets  it.  He  tests  point  and  position  and 
wood  in  setting  it.  He  does  not  try  to  drive  it  head 
down.  So  the  teacher  must  test  the  scholar  as  he 
drives  his  teaching  nail. 

After  getting  his  nail  and  setting  his  nail,  the  car- 
penter drives  his  nail.  Driving  the  nail  is  the  direct 
teaching  of  the  lesson.  I  drive  one  nail,  one  point, 
at  a  time.      I  drive  it  blow  on  blow,  which  is  question 


lo6  Hoiv  to  Become  a  Trained  Teacher 

on  question.  I  do  not  try  to  push  it  to  place  by  main 
force, — which  is  the  lecture  method. 

And  when  I  have  driven  my  teaching  nail,  I  must 
then  prove  it.  I  must  turn  my  board  about,  and  see 
if  the  point  of  the  nail  has  gone  home.  Do  you  see 
the  point? 

Last  comes  the  cliiiching  of  my  nail.  Get  it,  set  it, 
drive  it,  prove  it,  but  do  not  fail  to  have  it  clinched. 
Some  one  else  must  do  that  for  you.  Your  study  and 
knowledge  and  prayer  will  help,  but  at  the  last  it  is 
only  the  Holy  Ghost  who  can  clinch  the  truth  as  you 
drive  it  home  to  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  scholar. 


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